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.