Tony, Halim have biggest chance for semis: Coach

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia men's doubles pair Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto hold Indonesia's greatest chance of advancing to the semifinals of the World Badminton Championships, coach Herry Imam Pierngadi said on Saturday.

"Tony and Halim benefit from the draw and they have a great chance of reaching the semifinals. Their toughest opponents will be Danish Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen in the quarterfinals, Herry told The Jakarta Post by phone prior to his departure for Seville, Spain.

The Championships will be held from June 4 to June 10, preceded by the Sudirman Cup mixed team event from May 28 to June 2.

"Tony and Halim beat the Danes in their last encounter in the Japan Open quarterfinals in April," Herry said.

In their division, the number five seeds will meet Yuzo Kubota and Takuya Katayama of Japan in the first round. Should they win, Tony and Halim will meet the winners of a battle between Kristof Hopp and Thomas Tesche of Germany and James Anderson and Graham Hurrell of England.

In the third round, Tony and Halim are likely to meet the Chinese partnership Liu Yong and Chen Qiqiu. If Tony and Halim eliminate the Chinese pair, they are likely to meet either the Danish top seeds or South Korea's Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sun in the quarterfinals.

In the other division, Indonesia will field third seeds Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian and Japan Open winners Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, seeded eighth here.

"Flandy and Eng Hian have the toughest pool as they will meet Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas of Thailand in the first round. Flandy and Eng Hian have not won either of their two previous matches against the Thais," Herry said.

"But I have prepared a special strategy to handle the Thais based on their last encounter in the Japan Open, where Flandy and Eng Hian bowed out in the first round. I have all the records to arrange the strategy."

If Flandy and Eng Hian can beat the Thais, they are expected meet Theodorus Velkos and George Patis of Greece in the second round. Chinese duo Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun, seeded 16th, will be the likely opponents for Flandy and Eng Hian in the third round.

As for Candra and Sigit, Herry pointed out that the Indonesians' potential encounter with Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong- moon of South Korea in the second round will be very decisive.

Candra and Sigit will open their campaign against Malaysians Rosman Razak and Chang Kim Wai, while the Koreans will face Austrians Juergen Koch and Harald Koch.

"If Candra and Sigit can overcome Ha and Kim, they have a greater chance of advancing to the semifinals," Herry predicted.

"I would certainly like to see an all-Indonesian final, but the most important thing is to secure the semifinals berths for all three doubles pairs."

Candra and Sigit will have to defeat number two seeds Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen of Denmark, their likely opponents in the quarterfinals, in order to secure a semifinals berth.

Easy path

Women's singles defending champion Camilla Martin of Denmark has a relatively easy draw, meeting Korea's Jun Jae-youn in the first round.

In the second round, she will face the winner of a match between Indonesian-born Santi Wibowo of Switzerland and Neli Boteva of Bulgaria.

Martin will need all her energy for the quarterfinals round which looks set to pit her against China's Dai Yun in a rematch of the 1999 World Championships final in Copenhagen.

The women's doubles event is also expected to be an all- Chinese affair, with Sydney silver medalists Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei ranked top seeds. All England champions Gao Ling and Huang Sui, seeded fifth, also pose a very real threat for the title, along with Zhang Jiewen and Wei Yili, seeded eighth.

In what is set to be his last international outing, Michael Sogaard looks sure of at least a quarterfinals berth with Rikke Olsen, while Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager, who won their first Grand Prix together at the Swiss Open in March, have been drawn to meet Olympic and All England champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling in the semifinals.

In a related development, the Court of Arbitration for Sport's Appeals Arbitration Division president Thomas Bach has not upheld the Gibraltar Badminton Association (GBA)'s appeal against the decision of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) to only allow GBA to participate in the mixed team Sudirman Cup event with certain restrictions.

The IBF's official Internet web site www.worldbadminton.net reported that, following the objections of Spanish authorities to the participation of Gibraltar in the Sudirman Cup, IBF had negotiated participation in the event for Gibraltar as an IBF team under the IBF flag, but with no reference to the territory.

Gibraltar is currently under English rule.

Subsequently, the GBA has confirmed that it will take part in the competition, with their first match scheduled to take place on Monday morning. (nvn)