Smiling Joko ready to fool his detractors

Smiling Joko ready to fool his detractors

ATLANTA, Georgia (Agencies): Joko Suprianto, the smiling
Indonesian who has been written off more times than he cares to
remember, will be one of the most surprising favorites at the
Centennial Olympics when badminton begins yesterday.

It was the most painful disappointment of Joko's career when
he was excluded from his country's squad when badminton made its
Olympic debut in Barcelona four years ago. Few believed he would
be in Atlanta seeded to win gold.

Even when the 29-year-old lost his world title in Lausanne,
Switzerland, last year detractors were writing him off as past
his best. But Joko made them look foolish with superb
performances which have earned him titles at the World Cup and
World Grand Prix finals.

This helped him regain his confidence and earned him a
valuable place at the head of the draw which has kept him away
from the half containing his compatriot rivals, world champion
Haryanto Arbi and defending Olympic champion Alan Budikusuma.

However, Joko may have to cope with a semifinal against the
most dangerous riser on the circuit, China's Dong Jiong, who hit
the top spot on the world rankings one month after the Olympic
qualifying cutoff date in April.

Faster

Dong probably moves faster than any player in the competition
and will be one of the biggest threats to the Indonesians'
ambitions to win both Olympic singles titles for the second
successive time.

Another is the world champion from China Ye Zhaoying, who is
the top seed in the women's singles. However Ye was beaten in the
Uber Cup world team finals in Hong Kong in May by Susi Susanti,
the defending Olympic champion who wants to win gold again before
winding down her uniquely successful career and marrying Alan.

Susi completed the Uber Cup unbeaten, and appears to have
regained enough of her balletic grace and metronomic consistency
to be the unofficial favorite. However she has a harder draw than
Ye Zhaoying.

That is because she has in her half the gifted Korean Bang
Soo-hyun, who beat her en route to winning the All-England title
in Birmingham in March and briefly became the world's top-ranked
player.

Four titles

The Indonesians could conceivably capture four titles, for
Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in the men's doubles are the
strongest of all the top seeds, and Trikus Herianto and Minarti
Timur are seeded second in the mixed doubles.

However, the most likely winner of the mixed is the returning
star, Park Joo-bong, widely regarded as the greatest all-round
doubles player of all time.

The 31-year-old Korean has made a comeback in partnership with
Ra Kyung-min specially to try to win an event which has been
accepted into the Olympic schedule for the first time. Afterwards
he plans to retire for the third and last time.

Elsewhere in the boxing ring, light middleweight Hendrik
Simangunsong completed a winning Indonesian double with a 12-1
points victory over Zimbabwe's Alexander Kwangwald just two
fights after teammate flyweight Hermansen Ballo beat Guy
Boulingui of Gabon 6-2.

Meanwhile in windsurfing, the Indonesian Windsurfing
Association will not set any medal targets for the country's sole
surfer, Oka Sulaksana, an official said in Jakarta yesterday.

Iskandar, the association's official, said that 26-year-old
Oka is only expected to get into the big 10 position at the
competition, which will be staged at Savannah Beach, about 430km
southeast of Atlanta.

Iskandar said that he is optimistic that Oka will be able to
reach the targeted position, due to his Olympic qualifying
results in the Netherlands two months ago. Oka finished in second
position at the competition.

"He met his toughest rivals at the qualification, so there
will be no problem," he said.

Antara reported strong winds at Savannah beach, reaching 17
knots.

Oka, who will compete in the mistral class, will take
advantage of the windy conditions, Iskandar said.

"Oka really loves strong wind. If the wind is too weak, he'll
have problems," he said.

Oka, a gold medalist at the Southeast Asian Games in Chiang
Mai last year, competed on Monday. The results, however, will be
announced in one week. He is accompanied by coach Roby Rumeper.