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.