RI men's doubles must win GP finals: Coach

JAKARTA (JP): One of Indonesia's four men's doubles pairs entered in the Lipton World Grand Prix Badminton Finals must win the tournament in Denpasar, Bali, next week, coach Christian Hadinata said.

Christian told Kompas and The Jakarta Post yesterday he would not only bet on Olympic gold medalists Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky but also on the other three pairs.

"We have four teams in the tournament, we must win the men's doubles. I don't care who wins but they must be Indonesians," Christian said.

Antonius/Denny Kantono were named the top seeds in the tournament, while Ricky/Rexy are seeded third.

Juniors Tony Gunawan/Rudy Wijaya and Chandra Wijaya/Sigit are seeded fifth and sixth at the US$350,000 tournament, to be staged from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8 at Yuwana Mandala Stadium, Denpasar.

The men's doubles event only features eight pairs in the tournament.

"There's a strong possibility the men's doubles final will be an all-Indonesian affair, but they have to beat each other in the preliminary rounds," said Christian.

Meanwhile, coach Triadji, in charge of three of the five men's singles players to be fielded in the tournament said defending champion Joko Suprianto, 30, is still in tip-top shape.

"After talking to him I conclude he is quite fired up and highly motivated for the tournament. He really wants to show fans he can still perform exceptionally well despite his age," he said.

The three players under the tutelage of Triadji are Joko, Hermawan Susanto and rookie Budi Santoso, a losing finalist at the Indonesia Open in Medan, North Sumatra, in August. The other two players, Alan Budikusuma and Indra Wijaya are coached by Tong Sin Fu.

Triadji predicted China's Dong Jiong, seeded 10th, would pose the most serious threat to Joko.

"Joko has to improve his defense against Dong because the Chinese has great stamina," he said.

Meanwhile in the women's singles, Indonesia's young hope Mia Audina said she had not set a specific target for herself.

"I just want to play safe. I'm thinking of the match one step at a time," said the Olympic bronze medalist.

Coach Imelda Gunawan said Minarti Timur/Trikus Heryanto the top seeds in mixed doubles were raring to go.

"Minarti is still nursing a back injury but her condition is improving. Trikus has made tremendous headway," she said.

Meanwhile a national badminton official said Heryanto Arbi had pulled out of the Sanyo World Cup Championships, which will be staged Senayan Indoor Stadium from Dec. 11 to Dec. 15.

Iwan Setiawan told Antara Friday Heryanto said he was still hobbled by a nagging injury to his back that would not enable him to do justice to the US$150,000 championships.

Heryanto, known for his trademark leaping smash, injured his back during the Thomas Cup championships in Hong Kong in May.

Iwan hoped Heryanto would be able to take part in the Japan and Taiwan Opens early next year.

Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark also withdrew from the tournament for undisclosed reasons. (yan)