RI seeks winning form over Danes

RI seeks winning form over Danes

Novan Iman Santoso and Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

The Thomas Cup badminton team championship enters the
semifinal stage on Friday, with defending champion Indonesia
looking to continue its winning form against Denmark.

The other semifinal match will pit favorite and top seed China
against South Korea.

While China is expected to easily defeat Korea in its bid for
a double victory -- its women's team tipped to win the Uber Cup
-- Indonesia can expect a close battle with the European
contender.

Indonesia has won all of its 11 previous cup matches with the
Danes, with the last winning run being in the semifinals of the
2002 cup in Guangzhou, China.

Indonesia has won the Thomas Cup a total of 13 times,
including the last five in a row.

Denmark, meanwhile, has never won the trophy. It has reached
the final six times but has always fallen short of converting
final berths to victories.

But this time, Denmark boasts a higher-ranked crop of players
than the host.

Indonesia is sure to open its match with Sony Dwi Kuncoro,
world No. 9, while the Danes will probably pick Peter Gade
Christensen, international No. 6.

Both players have met twice before and the score stands at 1-1
a piece. Sony won in the first round of the 2003 World
Championships in Birmingham, England, before Christensen evened
the score with a win at the 2003 Sudirman Cup in Eindhoven, the
Netherlands.

Indonesia has no choice but to turn to Taufik Hidayat in the
second singles match. Denmark is likely to field Anders Boesen in
preference to Kenneth Jonassen.

Jonassen is currently ranked better than Boesen but the latter
has a psychological advantage over Taufik, having won two of
their three previous matches.

The third singles match will likely see Simon Santoso against
Niels Christian Kaldau, who won their only match in the 2003 cup
in Chinese Taipei. But the Danes also have the option of fielding
former world champion Peter Rasmussen, whose international
ranking is on the decline, now at 117.

Indonesia is likely to rest Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto
after they fared poorly in earlier games.

However, Indonesia has a better chance in the doubles, with
Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian, world doubles No. 8, having a 3-0
score against the world's top pair Lars Paaske and Jonas
Rasmussen.

The makeshift pairing of Candra Wijaya and Tri Kusharjanto
will play in the second doubles match against All England
champions Jens Erikssen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen, at world No.
5.

Flandy said he was confident about winning a point for
Indonesia.

"Based on our past experience against Danish players, I
believe we can win. Moreover, we have the home crowd behind us,"
he said.

Rasmussen, meanwhile, said the Danes were ready to break their
3-0 jinx against the hosts.

"Flandy and Eng Hian are more experienced than us but it
doesn't mean that we cannot fight back," he said.

Indonesian team manager Christian Hadinata said Denmark had
equal strength in both its singles and doubles lineup.

However, he hoped his proteges would continue the winning form
that dispatched Denmark in the semifinals two years ago and
stopped Malaysia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

"The players displayed good performances against Malaysia and
I hope they will play ever better (against the Danes)," he said.