Top absentees give Sony a clear run
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defending champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro's bid for back-to-back titles has been boosted by the absence of top players at the US$150,000 JVC Asian Badminton Championships 2003, which start on Wednesday at the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor Stadium.
Sony, whose championship victory last year came at the expense of fellow Indonesian Taufik Hidayat, told a media conference on Tuesday that he would not lose his fighting spirit in defending his title, to make amends for a string of dismal performances this year.
"The absence of many world-ranking players in this year's championship will not discourage me. I am determined to defend my title," said the 19-year-old, who is currently ranked eighth in the world and number one in the country.
The tournament has been left depleted with the withdrawal of Chinese players and the majority of South Korea's and Malaysia's top contenders.
Players from the three countries have traditionally been strong rivals for Indonesia's players, not only in Asia but in international competition.
Sony, whose last appearance was a third-round run at the Denmark Open, is left as the only champion from the 2002 edition featuring in the tournament.
Other 2002 winners, Zhou Mi (women's singles), Kim Dong- moon/Ha Tae-kwon (men's doubles), Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (women's doubles), Zhang Wei/Gao Ling (mixed doubles) are among the absentees.
Punch Gunalan, secretary of the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC), deplored the absence of many world-ranked players in the championship as disappointing but he said he understood their decision because the event did not offer world-ranking points, necessary to boost their qualifying bid for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
"Some countries will prefer to send their players to other championships, such as the Hong Kong open in late October, to pushing them to pursue ranking points that they need to qualify for next year's Olympic Games.
"Even more disappointing was that the Chinese squad withdrew their players over the weekend, after the seeding list and match schedule had already been established," he said.
"We can understand their position but don't encourage participants to withdraw at the last minute. Therefore, we shall take some appropriate action," he said.
Gunalan said that ABC would penalize the Chinese through fines or other sanctions.
The Jakarta meet has been deprived of Olympics points because there will be two editions of the Asia championships within the qualifying period for the 2004 Athens Games. The subsequent event will be in April, 2004, with the venue yet to be decided.
The Jakarta swing includes about 250 players from 24 countries.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) does not seem to have lost its interest in the tournament, with PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung saying that the event would be a warm-up field ahead of larger events that Indonesia will host: the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup.
"After the final matches, we shall hold a farewell ceremony for one of Indonesia's best players, Hendrawan," he said. Hendrawan, 2000 Olympic silver medalist, announced his retirement from badminton two weeks ago.
In Wednesday's first round, Sony and Taufik are expected to face few difficulties against Pakistani Ahsan Qamar and Zulkifli MD Saleh of Brunei Darussalam.