The 'Greysia' Indonesian hope at world junior meet

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.