Susi Susanti still teasing over retirement
Susi Susanti still teasing over retirement
GLASGOW (Reuter): Susi Susanti is still playing a teasing game about when she will retire, but the Indonesian is certain that this week will be her last chance to reclaim the world championship crown that she donned in 1993.
The 26-year-old, who totally dominated the sport in the early 1990s, has slipped to number five in the world rankings.
But she proved she is still a major force with victory over China's Ye Zhaoying, the All-England champion and world number one, in the Sudirman Cup team championship last Friday.
"The win has made me think very positively about the individual championships," said Susanti. "I am feeling very good."
Last year, Susanti announced she would be retiring after the Olympic Games in Atlanta. But then she said she would play one more year.
On Monday, she intimated that her deadline could again be extended.
"Maybe this will be my last world championships, but maybe not," she said. "But it will be my last chance to win the singles. In two years' time I will be 28, and that is too old. There are so many good young players coming through."
Three months ago, Susi married the 1992 Olympic Games champion, Alan Budikusuma in a much-publicized wedding. The pair were treated like royalty by the Indonesians.
"I felt like a queen. It was wonderful," Susi said.
But Susi's new found status has not diminished her appetite for success on the court. "The world championships are still very, very important to me. This is the biggest event in badminton, and it would be wonderful to win the title again."
Susi opens her campaign against Hong Kong's Ong Ching on Tuesday but her big test will come in Friday's quarterfinal against the number two seed, Gong Zhichao, the Chinese player who beat her in the All-England championships in March.
Meanwhile, India's outstanding player, P. Gopichand, will take no part in the men's singles. The man who beat the Barcelona Olympic champion Alan at the All-England championships in Birmingham two months ago has a knee injury and is returning home to Hyderabad.
Injury continues to afflict Joko Suprianto, the former world champion from Indonesia, who will still be bothered by the groin problem he suffered in the World Grand Prix finals in Bali in December when he begins the attempt to win the title back Tuesday.
Another Indonesian, Trikus Heryanto, who was unable to play in the Sudirman Cup semifinal against champions China on Friday, still has problems with his Achilles but expects to play in the mixed doubles tomorrow. He and Minarti Timur are the top seeds.