RI Uber coaches throwing in the towel against China

RI Uber coaches throwing in the towel against China

Eva C. Komandjaja and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta

Former champion Indonesia, which is seeded only tenth among 12
teams in the women's team badminton championship, the Uber Cup,
is up against China on Friday but the host's managers say it will
concentrate more on its next match against the Netherlands.

Indonesia's team manager Christian Hadinata and the
women's doubles coach Paulus Firman said that it would be
difficult for their girls to overcome mighty China, which has
many very highly ranked players.

"Not only Indonesia. Other teams will face difficulties if
they have to play China," Christian said.

However, Paulus said her team is still hoping to steal a
point, and some dignity, with a win in the doubles.

The Indonesia pair of Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita, who are
currently ranked 12th in the world, will however, face a daunting
task against the likes of Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, ranked No. 1
in the world.

In the singles, the gap is even more yawning. Indonesia's best
hope Silvi Antarini is ranked 66th while China lines up the
world's best three players led top-ranked Gong Ruina.

Gong beat Silvi 11-6, 11-3 the last time they met at the 2003
Hong Kong Open.

Ivana Lie, the Indonesian women's coach, signaled that their
game against China would be a mere formality in which they would
not stretch themselves, and would just cruise through to save
energy for the Netherlands match.

"We should be realistic, we are two classes apart from China
right now. If possible we should keep some energy in reserve for
our match against Netherlands," Ivana said.

The China match, then is nothing but a warm-up match for the
Netherlands.

Earlier, China's team manager Lee Yong Bo said that he was
confident about retaining the Uber Cup as well as wresting the
Thomas Cup from Indonesia's hands.

Indonesia's players did not seem to be worried about the China
match either.

Maria Kristin said she was not nervous about the match as she
left for a training session with other team members.

Silvi would not comment either. The team's other singles'
players are Adrianti Firdasari and Francisca.

Each of the four group winners automatically advances to the
quarterfinals. The second and third finishers from each group
will have a playoff to determine the remaining four spots in the
final eight.

If hopes of a win over the Netherlands materialize, Indonesia
is likely to face South Africa, and Ivana believes her charges
can win that one, putting them in a good position to make the
final eight.

Speaking optimistically about Indonesia's prospects, Ivana
said that Indonesia's possible quarterfinal opponent would be
either Japan or Denmark.

"But, we'll see what happens," she said.

Indonesia seemed to get a boost after finding out that
Indonesian-born star Mia Audina would not be playing for the
Netherlands in this tournament on her home soil.

Mia, who helped Indonesia win its last Uber Cup trophies in
1994 and 1996, would have been a favorite to contribute a point
for her team after taking the European championship in April.

She skipped the Jakarta event in order to concentrate on
Olympics.