RI up for own c'ship

RI up for own c'ship

JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesia aims to recover its badminton
glory this week in the US$170,000 Indonesia Open after last
month's disappointing defeat in Switzerland.

A huge field of some 400 players and officials from 19
countries, including China, Malaysia, South Korea, England and
Denmark, are expected to take part in the annual event due to
start on Wednesday and to run until Sunday.

Unseeded players -- both local and foreign -- will go through
a series of qualifying rounds, beginning this morning at the
Senayan badminton hall. The main event will be held at the
Senayan indoor stadium.

Both the men and women's world number one singles players,
Indonesia's Hariyanto Arbi and South Korea's Bang Soo-hyun, will
compete, along with the second-ranked women's singles player,
Indonesia's best hope Susi Susanti.

Favorite Indonesia lost to China 1-3 in the last round of the
Sudirman Cup mixed team championships in Lausanne, Switzerland,
last month when Susi lost the number one position she had denied
Bang since 1992.

Karsono, chairman of the Indonesia Open organizing committee,
said that with 81 players in the field Indonesia would be the
favorite.

Major absentees in the five-day event will include Denmark's
Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen, the world's second seed, Malaysia's top
player Rashid Sidek and China's world champion Ye Zhaoying, as
well as its top two men's singles players Dong Jiong and Su Jun,
Karsono said.

Badminton observers believe Arbi will not have any problems
defeating rivals in the opening rounds.

In the men's singles, observers expect an intense duel between
fifth-seeded Park Sung-woo of South Korea and sixth-seeded and
home favorite Alan Budikusuma.

In the women's singles, the match between sixth-seeded
Indonesian rising star Mia Audina and eighth-seeded Han Jingna of
China has the potential to be an explosive encounter, observers
say.