The 'Greysia' Indonesian hope at world junior meet

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Indonesian badminton squad is still harbors high hopes for success at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Canada, amid the current dominant form of China.

Greysia Polii, 18 years old, will play an integral part in Indonesia's bid, pairing with Heny Budiman in the women's doubles and with Muhamad Rizal in the mixed doubles.

Greysia and Heny earned their spot in the semifinals after winning 15-7, 15-13 over German pair Janet Koehler and Annekatrin Lille in just 39 minutes in Thursday's match, according to www.badmintonabc.com.

In the mixed doubles, Greysia teamed up with Rizal to beat top seeded pair Ye Shen and Chen Feng 15-10, 15-12 to secure a semifinal date with the third seeded pair from South Korea Lee Yong-dae and Park Soo-hee.

After winning the team competition -- their third in a row -- the young Chinese shuttlers continued their domination in the individual competition, with at least one semifinalist in each of the five events.

Chen Jing and Gong Weijie both booked places in the men's singles semifinals. Lin Wang and Lan Lu will face each other the a semifinal in the women's singles.

The men's pair of Shen Ye and He Hanbin, women's pair Tian Qing and Yu Yang, and Feng Chen and Pan Pan and mixed doubles He Hanbin and Yu Yang also made it to the semifinals.

Greysia and Heny -- both from the national training center in Cipayung -- will face a tough challenge from top seeds Tian Qing and Yu Yang in the semifinals.

The task looks daunting with Greysia reported to be suffering a minor injury after the quarterfinal.

Assistant coach Sigit Pamungkas, who is with them in Canada, was quoted by Antara as saying that Greysia's right leg was swollen after the match.

Women's doubles coach Atik Djauhari, who was interviewed in Jakarta, said he hoped that Greysia would overcome the injury with sheer will power.

"A good fighting spirit will usually be able to cover up most physical weaknesses and I believe Greysia and Heny will be able to play well because both have that kind of competitive streak in them to go with their excellent skills," Atik told The Jakarta Post.

Yu Yang, who used to be paired up with Du Jing in the women's doubles, was the 2004 French Open and Polish Open winner.

"Playing two doubles matches might drain Greysia's energy, but if she can play like she does in practice, she will be able to endure her physical obstacles," Atik said.

The Indonesian team, which took third place in the team competition, has been denied in the other events.

Muhamad Rizal and I Made Agung did not share the same luck with their compatriots as they crashed out in a 9-15, 15-8, 17-16 heartbreaker to third seeds Ye Sen and He Hanbin in the men's doubles.

Women's singles hopeful Yuan Kartika suffered a 11-6, 11-6 defeat at the hands of Japan's Yukina Oku, while in the men's singles, Ari Yuli Wahyu exited in the first round after losing 15-7, 15-13 to Germany's Dieter Domke.

Francisca Ratnasari survived her opening match only to go out in the second round 11-3, 11-3 to Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong while China's Lu Lan overcame Wiwis Meliana of Indonesia in a 31-minute game with a score of 11-2, 11-8.

Men's singles Ahmad Rivai, Tommy Sugiarto and Markus Wijanu has also had to abandon their men's singles run early.