RI shuttlers head for Birmingham

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's top shuttlers left here for Birmingham on Saturday, vowing to give their best at this week's 2001 Yonex All England Open.

While some have been dispatched with specific orders to go for glory, others will go with the hope of achieving personal best results.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has set a target of bringing home three titles -- the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles -- from the four-star event, which will get underway on Wednesday at the National Indoor Arena in the northern England city.

Interviewed separately at the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, the shuttlers said they were ready to deliver their best performances.

Men's doubles pair Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian said their first-seeding in Birmingham would not affect their game.

"We'll just go out there and play. We don't think too much about our top seeding. We don't want it to become a burden," Eng Hian told reporters on Friday.

"Flandy and I have set a target of reaching the semifinals. But, of course, we want to grab the title," he added.

The pair receives a first-round bye and will open their campaign in the second round against Malaysia's Chew Choong Eng and Chan Chong Ming of Malaysia, who also get a first-round bye.

If things go according to plan, the Indonesian pair will play Denmark's Thomas Hovgaard and Mathias Bose in the third round and another Danish pair, seventh-seeded Michael Lamp and Jonas Rasmussen, in the quarterfinals.

Sydney Olympics gold medalist Tony Gunawan, who has been paired with Halim Haryanto in Birmingham, did not want to disclose his target. The new partnership is unseeded in the tournament, but it would be wrong for their opponents to underestimate them.

"Of course we want to win the title, but because we are a new team, we have to establish our ranking first," he said.

"We have a commitment among the men's doubles pairs that one of us must come home with the title, whoever that is," he added.

Tony and Halim face Chris Davies and Matthew Hughes of Wales in the first round, and are likely to meet Danes Janek Roos and Joachim Fischer Nielsen in the second round, followed by fifth- seeds Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson of England in the third round.

Assuming they win all their matches, they should meet fourth- seeded Martin Lundgaard and Lars Paaske of Denmark in the quarterfinals.

Indonesia's hopes for the men's singles title still lies with Taufik Hidayat, runner-up in the last two All England tournaments.

Hopes for third time lucky, however, have been tempered by the fact that the Birmingham draw is almost identical to that of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where Taufik was ousted in the quarterfinals by Ji Xinpeng, who subsequently won the gold medal.

"This is like a replay of the Games," Taufik's coach Mulyo Handoyo told the Jakarta Post. "I hope Taufik will give his best this year," he added.

Women's singles shuttler Lidya Djaelawijaya said on Saturday that she hoped to reach the last eight this year. But she realizes that she faces a big hurdle in the very first round against Kelly Morgan of Wales.

"She (Morgan) has defeated me in both of our two encounters," Lidya told the Post over the phone on Saturday.

"But I have learned my lessons. I have to be more careful and precise. I will fight to the end."

Last year, Lidya lost to China's Zhang Ning in the second round after receiving a bye in the first.

If she overcomes Morgan in the first round this year, her opponent in the second round will be the winner of a clash between the Netherlands' Karina de Witt and Japan's Miho Tanaka.

In the third round, her likely opponent will be eighth-seed Marina Andrievskaya of Sweden while fourth-seed Gong Ruina of China will be her likely opponent in the quarterfinals.

Yuli Marfuah, another Indonesian women's singles player, who has been embroiled in a row with PBSI executives, promised to play her best in her debut at this prestigious event.

"This is my first, and maybe last, participation in the All England. I just want to perform my best. My target is not to be defeated in the first round, that's all," she told the Post.

"My first opponent is Gao Yuan (Scotland). I've never heard of or met her, so I don't know her style. I'll just field my best," she added.

Yuli considered pulling out of the tournament last week when PBSI ruled that she had to pay her own way to Birmingham.

"It seemed that PBSI didn't want to send me. Fortunately, their stance wasn't absolute," Yuli said, referring to the fact the PBSI reversed their original decision.

She said she would talk with PBSI executive director Karsono on her return from England. "For now, I want to concentrate on my game," she said. (nvn)