RI shuttlers head for Birmingham
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)