RI, South Korea to clash in Uber Cup semifinals

RI, South Korea to clash in Uber Cup semifinals

By Arif Suryobuwono

HONG KONG (JP): History repeats itself. So does a showdown
between Indonesia and South Korea in the Uber Cup women's team
badminton championship semifinal.

Defending champion Indonesia sailed to Thursday's semifinals
as Group A runner-up with an empathic 5-0 win over helpless
Russia yesterday. The South Koreans finished unbeaten in Group B
following their 5-0 demolition of England.

China and Denmark, which also won their last group matches
with the same perfect scoreline, set up the other cross-over
semifinal on Thursday. China did not drop a single set in its
drubbing of Japan and Denmark, scalping minnow Hong Kong
yesterday.

In the 1994 Uber Cup semifinal, host Indonesia -- led by the
then-unbeatable Susi Susanti -- beat South Korea 4-1. Will the
same result be nailed down?

Indonesia's training director, Iwan Setiawan, all smiles after
his Uber Cuppers' rout of Russia yesterday, said that the clash
is going to be tight. "Both are neck and neck," Iwan said.

But the semifinal this time is far different from two years
ago.

Susi has lost three times to Bang Soo-hyun in the last 12
months, dating back from the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship
in May, when Susi fell 11-3, 5-11, 5-11. Bang shot down Susi in
three sets on her way to the China Open title five months later.

Most recently, Susi went down 7-11, 11-5, 4-11 to Bang in the
All England Open championship semifinals last March.

However, Iwan expressed a guarded optimism that taking on Bang
shall at least be easier for Susi than taking on China's world
No. 1, Ye Zhaoying, to whom the Indonesian lost four times in the
same time bracket.

"Susi often crashed to Ye in straight sets, but Bang could not
beat Susi that easy," Iwan said.

Iwan realized that South Korea's first doubles pair of Gil
Young-ah and Jang Hye-ock were too hard to beat. "I don't think
that we can beat them," Iwan said, "but I am optimistic that our
second doubles team can overcome any South Korean second doubles
partnership."

Iwan added that if only debutant Deyana Lomban were more
mature, his team's chance of reaching the final would increase
substantially.

Russian No. 1 Marina Yakusheva, who quickly went down 2-11, 5-
11 to Susi yesterday, said she knew that beating Susi was a
mission impossible. "I felt honored to play such a respectable
world top shuttler as Susi," Yakusheva said.

Russian team manager Vladimir Liftshits said that even though
a win over Susi was not in sight, Marina should have played Susi
in a more relaxed manner.

Liftshits said his team's loss could well be expected, given
that badminton is not a popular sport in his country. "In Russia,
badminton ranks perhaps 21st in popularity as a sport. That's why
we are quite weak in badminton."

China's coach, Li Yongbo, told reporters after his Uber
Cuppers' easy 5-0 win over England yesterday that he was "just a
bit" confident his team could beat Denmark in the semifinals. The
fact that South Korea had a hard time beating Denmark 3-2 last
Thursday signaled a warning to us that we must be careful, Li
said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian team manager Lutfi Hamid quoted
International Badminton Federation council member Rudy Hartono as
saying yesterday that the IBF council meeting yesterday rebuked
honorary referee Roger Johansson for allowing the swap of Swedish
first Thomas Cup singles player, Jens Olsson, and its second
singles player, Tomas Johansson.

Johansson had said that he granted the swapping on behalf of
the Swedish team manager's request. The swapping was acceptable,
because Swedish first and second singles players do not differ
too much in terms of their skills, according to Johansson.

He also argued that such practice was common and in accordance
with the IBF rules and regulations. Lutfi reiterated that
Indonesia would lodge a formal protest on this to the IBF.

Results:
Indonesia bt Russia 5-0
South Korea bt England 5-0
China bt Japan 5-0
Denmark bt Hong Kong 5-0

Thomas Cup -- Page 10