RI denied Olympic women's singles bet
RI denied Olympic women's singles bet
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta
Indonesia has been deprived of the chance of contending the
women's singles in the badminton competition at the next Olympic
Games in Athens, following the announcement of the rankings by
the International Badminton Federation on Saturday.
The Games will run from Aug. 13 to 29. The badminton
competition has a quota of 172 players in five events and as many
as 30 countries will be playing in the competition.
According to the IBF rules, only players in the top 16 of the
IBF rankings as of May 1 are eligible to compete at Athens.
Countries can only send a maximum of three entries in each of the
events.
Indonesia has two entries in men's singles, three in men's
doubles, two in mixed doubles and one in the women's doubles.
The women's singles event sees no Indonesia's contenders.
Indonesia's best hope, Silvi Antarini, is ranked only 66th in the
world. Other players of note, Adrianti Firdasari and Maria
Kristin are playing with Silvi in Indonesia's team for this
week's Uber Cup in Jakarta.
Christian Hadinata, the director of the national training
center, said that the failure to have a women's singles player in
the Olympics had been predicted as "Indonesia's hopefuls were
still relatively new".
About the Olympics prospects, Christian said the team would
rest its hopes on men's singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The top Indonesian men's singles contenders are Sony Dwi
Kuncoro and Taufik Hidayat.
Sony, the world No 9, was a certainty for the Games, while
Asia champion Taufik, who is ranked No. 17, will be going only
because China's top-ranked Xia Xuanze and Chen Yu were unable to
join their compatriots Lin Dan, Chen Hong and Bao Chunlai due to
the IBF's quota.
The quota also denies 12th-ranked men's doubles pair Candra
Wijaya/Halim Haryanto a place in the Olympics, with Indonesia
having another three pairs ahead of them -- Hadiyanto/Alven
Yulianto (No. 7), Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian (No. 8) and Sigit
Budiarto/Tri Kusharjanto (No. 10).
With Tony Gunawan, who now plays for the United States, Candra
won the Olympic gold in Sydney four years ago.
Indonesia has two mixed doubles pairs going to Athens: Nova
Widianto/Vita Marissa and Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati, while Jo
Novita/Lita Nurlita will be Indonesia's only participants in the
women's doubles.
Out of 30 countries participating in the badminton competition
at the Games, China, which swept four of the five titles in
Sydney, has the most entries in the list with 13, followed by
South Korea with 12.
The European badminton giant Denmark will send 10 entries.
Japan surprisingly managed nine entries, while Britain with
eight has the same number of entries as Indonesia. Thailand,
Malaysia and Germany have six entries apiece.
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta
Indonesia has been deprived of the chance of contending the
women's singles in the badminton competition at the next Olympic
Games in Athens, following the announcement of the rankings by
the International Badminton Federation on Saturday.
The Games will run from Aug. 13 to 29. The badminton
competition has a quota of 172 players in five events and as many
as 30 countries will be playing in the competition.
According to the IBF rules, only players in the top 16 of the
IBF rankings as of May 1 are eligible to compete at Athens.
Countries can only send a maximum of three entries in each of the
events.
Indonesia has two entries in men's singles, three in men's
doubles, two in mixed doubles and one in the women's doubles.
The women's singles event sees no Indonesia's contenders.
Indonesia's best hope, Silvi Antarini, is ranked only 66th in the
world. Other players of note, Adrianti Firdasari and Maria
Kristin are playing with Silvi in Indonesia's team for this
week's Uber Cup in Jakarta.
Christian Hadinata, the director of the national training
center, said that the failure to have a women's singles player in
the Olympics had been predicted as "Indonesia's hopefuls were
still relatively new".
About the Olympics prospects, Christian said the team would
rest its hopes on men's singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The top Indonesian men's singles contenders are Sony Dwi
Kuncoro and Taufik Hidayat.
Sony, the world No 9, was a certainty for the Games, while
Asia champion Taufik, who is ranked No. 17, will be going only
because China's top-ranked Xia Xuanze and Chen Yu were unable to
join their compatriots Lin Dan, Chen Hong and Bao Chunlai due to
the IBF's quota.
The quota also denies 12th-ranked men's doubles pair Candra
Wijaya/Halim Haryanto a place in the Olympics, with Indonesia
having another three pairs ahead of them -- Hadiyanto/Alven
Yulianto (No. 7), Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian (No. 8) and Sigit
Budiarto/Tri Kusharjanto (No. 10).
With Tony Gunawan, who now plays for the United States, Candra
won the Olympic gold in Sydney four years ago.
Indonesia has two mixed doubles pairs going to Athens: Nova
Widianto/Vita Marissa and Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati, while Jo
Novita/Lita Nurlita will be Indonesia's only participants in the
women's doubles.
Out of 30 countries participating in the badminton competition
at the Games, China, which swept four of the five titles in
Sydney, has the most entries in the list with 13, followed by
South Korea with 12.
The European badminton giant Denmark will send 10 entries.
Japan surprisingly managed nine entries, while Britain with
eight has the same number of entries as Indonesia. Thailand,
Malaysia and Germany have six entries apiece.