RI shuttler eyes title in S'pore

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat hopes to win another title at the US$170,000 Aviva Singapore Open badminton tournament from Nov. 15 to Nov. 21 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The 24-year-old Indonesian will start as a pretournament favorite. Taufik, who resided and trained in Singapore briefly in 2001, is currently coached by Mulyo Handoyo, who used to guide Singapore's top player, Ronald Susilo.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia's chief of development affairs, Icuk Sugiarto, told The Jakarta Post on Friday he expected victory in the men's singles at the tournament.

Indonesia will send four men's singles shuttlers to the event -- Taufik, Marleve Mainaky, Simon Santoso and Wimpie Mahardi. Icuk said he expected Indonesian shuttlers at least to make it to the finals of the men's singles and doubles at five-star event.

Olympic bronze medalist Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who bombed out of the ongoing China Open badminton tournament with a third round loss to unheralded Li Yu of China, will miss the Singapore event.

Indonesia will be sending a full squad to this International Badminton Federation Grand Prix series in Singapore. There will be the four men's singles shuttlers, three men's doubles pairs, three women's doubles pairs and two mixed pairs.

World number one men's pair Alven Yulianto/Luluk Hadiyanto, who missed the six-star tournament in Guangzhou earlier this week, and former world champions and recently reunited Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto are scheduled to grace the badminton court in Singapore.

Another men's doubles pair participating in the event is Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian. The pair won the event two years ago while competing for England, but this time they will be flying the Indonesian flag.

Several of the country's younger players will get an opportunity to shine in Singapore. Young singles player Simon Santoso, junior pair Hendra Setiawan/Markis Kidho and the newly paired mixed doubles teams of Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir and Anggun Nugroho/Yunita Tetty will be eager to make an impression at the event.

Women's doubles pairings Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita, Greysia Polii/Heni Budiman and Rani Mundiastuti/Nathalia Poluakan will get a rare chance to compete in an international tournament and gain some needed experience.

"I don't have very high expectations for the women's doubles and mixed doubles.

"The women's doubles lack experience while the mixed pairs are still new. Therefore, it would be good if the mixed pairs could make it to the semifinals, while the quarterfinals would be good enough for the women's doubles," Icuk told the Post.

The event, which will feature 22 countries including host Singapore, will not include world number one men's singles shuttler Lin Dan of China, who has decided to skip the tournament.

However, China will still send defending champion Chen Hong and reigning world champion Zhang Ning, who will lead the country's 27-strong squad.