Taufik haunted by back injury, title unsure
Taufik haunted by back injury, title unsure
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Open defending champion Taufik
Hidayat may lose his chance to retain his title as he is
suffering from a back injury.
The official doctor of the Badminton Association of Indonesia
(PBSI), Michael Triangto, said on Tuesday that Taufik had an X
ray but the results "were not very good".
"I recommended him to have another X ray tomorrow and there
should be a result in the afternoon," he said in a telephone
interview. "Taufik has been complaining about the injury and I
think it is the old one that reoccurs from time to time."
Michael said Taufik's injury was most likely muscle strain.
"But we should wait first and look at tomorrow's X ray to
decide if it really is muscle strain or if the injury has got
something to do with his bones."
Taufik visited orthopedic specialist Dr. Chaehab on Tuesday
morning as the doctor was unavailable the day before.
Michael said if Taufik injured his back, he would have to take
a month's rest and would not be able to compete in the Indonesia
Open.
Separately, PBSI secretary-general Leo Chandra Wiranata said
he hoped Taufik was not suffering from a serious injury.
"I saw his practice this morning at the Indonesian Badminton
Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, and I didn't see anything wrong
with the way he was playing. I hope his complaint was not about
anything serious," he said.
"After practice, Taufik went to visit Dr. Chaehab. Maybe we
will need to have a second opinion on his injury."
Leo said if Taufik was injured, PBSI would not force him to
compete in the Indonesia Open as the organization prefers the 19-
year-old shuttler to concentrate on the Olympic Games in Sydney
in September.
"He's one of our backbone players in the Olympics and he has a
great chance to reach the finals. Let's hope he's fine," he said.
Taufik, who is a recipient of the Olympics Solidarity
scholarship, won the Indonesia Open title in Bali last year after
beating senior Budi Santoso in the all Indonesian final.
With the participation of current world number one Peter Gade
Christensen of Denmark, former world champion Sun Jun and
teammate Chen Hong of China, Malaysian Ong Ewe Hock and senior
Hendrawan and Marlev Mainaky of Indonesia, Taufik is expected to
retain his title.
Taufik is also scheduled to compete in the Malaysian Open next
month to improve his world ranking by trying to enter the top
four for the Olympics. He is now in the world number seven
position.
Speaking on the Indonesia Open, Leo said the quality of this
year's event would be much better than last year's with the
participation of more countries, especially China and South
Korea.
"I think China prefers to send a bigger team to Thailand Open
(starting on Wednesday) before grooming the shuttlers in their
camp prior to the Olympics," he said. (yan)