RI men's doubles must win GP finals: Coach

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)