RI fears only Malaysia in SEA Games badminton

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia yesterday declared Malaysia the favorite to win either the men's singles or men's doubles in the 19th Southeast Asian Games badminton competition here next year.

Secretary-General of the Badminton Association of Indonesia RAJ Gosal told a hearing with officials of the National Sports Council yesterday that Olympic men's singles bronze medalist Rashid Sidek and his silver medal-winning doubles team Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock will be Indonesia's toughest opponents.

"Based on the real situation in the field, we aim to win six of the seven gold medals on offer next year," Gosal said. Apart from the two events which may see a close battle between Indonesians and Malaysians, Gosal said that the host shuttlers look certain to triumph in the other five events; the women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, women's team and men's team.

Malaysia has denied Indonesia a clean sweep in badminton since 1987 in the biennial Games, stealing either the men's team or men's doubles golds from the otherwise all-conquering Indonesians.

Gosal said that Indonesia's old hands like Joko Suprianto, Alan Budikusuma, Ardy Wiranata, Hariyanto Arbi and Hermawan Susanto will be included in 16 men and 16 women selected to join the centralized training program in Cipayung, East Jakarta, which starts on Nov. 1. The association has named 10 coaches for the training period.

All players will have their first work-out in the All England Championships in March and continue their Games preparations in the World Championships in Scotland in May.

Meanwhile, the association's executive director Soemaryono said Wednesday that a number of players would be relegated from the country's elite team.

The criteria to decide the relegation are players' records, ages and how long they have stayed in the badminton basecamp in Cipayung.

"We can't keep players who are on the decline. We'd do better by replacing them with younger players, who will enter the program through a promotion system," Soemarjono said.

Tennis

In another hearing yesterday, the Indonesian Tennis Association said it plans to hold selection tournaments in December and June before deciding on the national team for the Games.

Benny Mailili, a representative for the association, told reporters yesterday that the selected men's and women's top eight will take part in several European clay tournaments.

The Games tennis competition will be played on the Senayan clay courts.

Before the SEA Games, the recruits will face international duties in the Group One Davis Cup match in Manila in February and the Asia-Pacific Zone Fed Cup match in New Zealand in April.

Benny said that Indonesia's tennis queen Yayuk Basuki, who is automatically in the "super eight", will be allowed to set up her own tournament program.

"Yayuk is ranked 33 in the world and we think it is not necessary to give her a training program," he said.

Benny said that although the tennis body has yet to officially set a target, he predicted that Indonesia will hopefully win five out of the seven golds at stake.

"We have a chance of winning the women's team, women's doubles, mixed doubles, women's singles and men's team," he said. In the previous Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last year Indonesia managed only three golds.

Benny said that Philippines will be the toughest rivals since its players are used to playing on clay.

Former Wimbledon champion Tony Roche of Australia is due to visit Indonesia in December to give coaching clinics to national coaches. (yan)