Rony expected to retain form in Indonesia Open

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's singles Rony Agustinus is expected to retain his top performance at the US$170,000 Indonesia Open to begin on Wednesday at Bung Karno Indoor Stadium.

Coach Agus Dwi Santoso told The Jakarta Post upon his arrival from Malaysia on Monday that he had not set a special target for the world-ranked 31st Indonesian, but only expected him to continue his top form.

"I see Rony has improved his performance, especially mentally, but he must retain the image of being able to reach the finals. He can't lose to lesser-known shuttlers," he said.

Rony reached the concluded Malaysia Open by crushing All England champion Pullela Gopichang of India, world champion Hendrawan of Indonesia and world number two Chen Hong of China to reach the finals.

Unfortunately, he had to bow out to experienced host Ong Ewe Hock in a nail-biting match.

"I still have to observe Rony's form in the next three or four tournaments before setting a target for him in the future. He still needs to adapt to the new scoring system," Agus said.

The $120,000 Malaysia Open is the first Grand Prix series to decide the winner on the best of five games with each game lasting seven points. The scoring system was introduced by the International Badminton Federation to make the sport more interesting.

Rony, who is seeded sixth in the Indonesia Open, which starts July 23, will meet Jim Ronny Andersen of Norway in the first round. Should he win, he will face the winner of the match between Park Tae-sang of South Korea and Boonsak Polsana of Thailand.

If he survives, he is likely to challenge second seed Gopichand in the quarterfinals.

Hendrawan, the world number seven, is facing Yeoh Kay Bin of Malaysia in the first round. If he succeeds in winning, he is likely to challenge archrival Tam Kai Chuen of Hong Kong in the third round.

World champions Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto top the seeding list in the men's doubles. They will be challenged by Frederik Bergstrom and Henrik Andersson of Sweden in the second round.

Should they manage to overcome all barriers, the world number five are likely to repeat the Malaysia Open scene by facing compatriots Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, who are ranked as second seeds here, in the final.

Candra and Sigit, the Japan Open winners, defeated their fellow countrymen last week in a tough battle.

Newly crowned Malaysia Open winner Bambang Suprianto remains the top seed at the mixed doubles with permanent partner Minarti Timur, who missed last week's event due to illness and was replaced by Emma Ermawati.

Their toughest challengers in the final will likely be juniors Nova Widhianto and Vita Marissa or Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of England.

China, which previously dominated the top seeding lists, decided to pull out in the last minutes fearing the security situation during the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Special Session, which elected Megawati Soekarnoputri as new President on Monday. This is the fourth consecutive time that China has skipped the Indonesia Open. (yan)