Taufik tipped to retain Asian badminton crown
Taufik tipped to retain Asian badminton crown
MANILA (AFP): Defending men's singles champion Taufik Hidayat heads a cast of world class stars in the JVC Asian Badminton Championships here from Wednesday.
Ranked fifth in the world, the baby-faced Indonesian is fresh from victory in the Singapore Open. But his bid to retain the crown he won last year in Jakarta faces a major obstacle in the shape of China's Xia Xuanze.
Xia, the world number three, is coming off a win at last week's World Grand Prix in Brunei.
More than 200 players from 19 countries are taking part in the US$150,000 championships which is using the old 15-point scoring system instead of the new 7-point scoring system.
Wang Chen, the China-born world number five who now plays for Hong Kong, is the favorite in the ladies' singles.
Taufik's compatriots Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur will be defending their mixed doubles crown but are seeded only second behind the South Korean pair of Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min, the Olympic gold medalists.
In the men's doubles, Indonesia reunites its Sydney Olympics gold medalists Candra Wijaya with Tony Gunawan due to injuries suffered by their current partners.
Currently, Candra is paired with Sigit Budiarto and Tony with Halim Haryanto. The second pair is filled by old hands Bambang Suprianto and Tri Kusheryanto who now mainly compete in the mixed doubles event. Bambang and Tri have passed their qualification round.
The top-seeded ladies doubles squad is China's world number two duo of Gao Ling and Huang Sui.
Notable absentees are the South Korean duo of Lee Hyo and Kim Kyung-jin, the reigning champions.
Philippine police are deploying a 300-member police task force to protect the players and the venue amid concerns about kidnappings and crime in general.
Two Chinese engineers were slain by Muslim guerrillas in a hostage crisis in the south last Sunday.
Organized by the Asian Badminton Confederation, the tournament will be held at the Philsports Arena in eastern Manila.
"The (police) task force has already met twice to prepare for any contingencies that may occur," said Chief Superintendent Edgardo Aglipay, the operations director of the Philippine national police who is also executive vice president of the Philippine Badminton Association.
Playing in front of a partisan crowd in Jakarta, Indonesia dominated last year's tournament by taking three of the five titles.