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.