RI set sights low for Malaysia Open in Johor Baru
JAKARTA (JP): Fifty of Indonesia's badminton players left for the Malaysia Open championships in Johor Baru, yesterday, with slim prospects of continuing their winning ways after their victorious Thomas and Uber Cup campaigns.
"We're not putting too much pressure on our shuttlers at the tournament," RAJ Gosal, secretary general of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), said yesterday.
He admitted that Indonesian players saw a turning point in their performance after their glorious run at the world's most prestigious badminton team championships last May.
"We just want our players to maintain enough world grand prix points so they can secure places at the season-ending tournament in December," Gosal said.
He expected that the shuttlers would regain their form at the Indonesia Open in Yogyakarta next month.
"Don't forget that our main target, after the coveted Thomas Cup and Uber Cup trophies, is mining gold at the Asian Games," Gosal said.
PBSI has vowed to take at least three golds at the event, to be held in Hiroshima in October. Indonesia, which is now considered to be a world badminton powerhouse, has never won a single gold since its first appearance at the quadrennial event in 1950.
Indonesia's makeshift squad, heavy on second string players, enters the six-star championships with three titles at stake. The national team swept the top honors thanks to world badminton queen Susi Susanti, Olympic men's singles silver medalist Ardy Wiranata and the then world men's doubles number one Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky.
Susi, her male counterpart Joko Suprianto and world's top ranked men's pair of Bambang Suprianto and Rudy Gunawan are seeded first in their respective divisions at the July 6-10 event. Ardy is seeded second, ahead of countrymen Hermawan Susanto and Olympic winner Alan Budikusuma.
Joko, who was benched during Indonesia's 3-0 rout over Malaysia in the Thomas Cup grand final, is tipped to meet Chinese rising star Dong Jiong. Jiong took Joko out of the Asia Cup in Beijing in the quarterfinals and eventually went on to win the tournament.
Susi faces a tough hurdle in the form of Hang Jingna of China in the semifinals before renewing her old rivalry with world second best Ye Zhaoying, who is also from China.
Missing
Indonesia will be missing the All-England, men's, singles title-holder Hariyanto Arbi and the world women's number two doubles team of Lili Tampi and Finarsih. The absentees are scheduled to take part in the World Cup invitational championships in Vietnam at the end of this month.
Gosal said his players had been briefed to watch their tempers during the matches, where they will possibly face harassment by fanatic home fans in retaliation for the disruptive conduct of Indonesian fans during the Thomas and Uber Cups finals.
The national ace shuttlers will go to Singapore before playing on their home turf at the Aug. 10-14 event.
Gosal has speculated that Susi will play mixed doubles with her elder brother Rudy Haditono at the Konica Open in Singapore. The local daily, News Strait Times, reported on Friday that the world champion opted to miss the women's singles so she could save her energy. Susi will play women's singles in Vietnam and Yogyakarta. (amd)