Top shuttlers miss Asian C'ships
Top shuttlers miss Asian C'ships
JAKARTA (JP): The world's top players are passing over the Asian Badminton Championships this year, making room for a number of participants from countries where badminton is alien.
The US$30,000 championships will be held in Gelora Pancasila stadium in Surabaya from Apr. 17 to Apr. 21.
Secretary-general of the Badminton Association of Indonesia RAJ Gosal announced yesterday that Syria, Iran, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and Vietnam are among the new kids on the block.
Is this proof that the ugly duckling of the racket family begins to sport showier feathers? Could be. Or perhaps the enticements have something to do with it.
The association's Director for Foreign Affairs Rudy Hartono Kurniawan said that the sponsor, Japanese timepiece giant Seiko, is providing free board and lodging for six persons from each participating country.
"This is our strategy, particularly to attract newly developing countries which may need financial help to come here and play," the eight-time All England champion said.
Richard Ivory of the International Management Group which is organizing the tournament added that Seiko will also pay for participants' airfares.
As for the Big Four -- China, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia -- it seems they unanimously decided not to field their first-class shuttlers. Which means that the tournament will miss the world's top shuttlers.
"Of course, they are all being prepared for the Thomas and Uber Cup championships (May 16 to May 22 in Hong Kong)," said the association's executive director, Sumaryono.
"We have just fielded them in All England. Fielding them again in this tournament would be too much for them and may affect their timed peak performances in Hong Kong. Besides, we want to avoid the risk of injury," Sumaryono added.
Thus, Malaysia will be led by Peng Cheng, China by Cheng Kang, South Korea by Ah Jae Chang. Indonesia will try a synergy of its near-expiry date players such as Hermawan Susanto (men's singles) and Yuni Kartika (women's singles) and young talents plus two trial partnerships.
The untested duos group Lili Tampi and Trikus Haryanto in the mixed doubles (usual pair: Trikus and Minarshi) and Finarsih and Minarti Timur in the women's doubles (usual pair: Finarsih and Lili).
Will the new duets work? "If not, we will put them back in order. But if they do, why shouldn't they go on?" Sumaryono said. (arf)