Top stars to miss Malaysia Open
Top stars to miss Malaysia Open
JAKARTA (JP): Many of the world's best badminton players will
be absent from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from Aug. 21 to Aug.
25.
Following Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen's decision
to skip the grand prix tournament, Indonesia announced yesterday
that it would send a team of junior players led by former Olympic
bronze medalist Hermawan Susanto.
RAJ Gosal, the secretary-general of the Badminton Association
of Indonesia, said that Indonesia had originally picked 1992
Olympic silver medalist Ardy Wiranata to support Hermawan in the
first tournament since the Olympic Games.
"I just heard this morning that Ardy is sick and he's likely
to miss both the Malaysian and Indonesian Open," Gosal said.
Dane Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark and Indonesia's Joko Suprianto,
Alan Budikusuma and Hariyanto Arbi are notable absentees from the
Malaysian Open to be staged at Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur.
Gosal said that Indra Wijaya, Budi Santoso, Jeffer Rosobin and
Irwansyah would represent Indonesia in the men's singles and
Meiluawati, Lydia Djaelawidjaja, Olivia and Cindana in the
women's singles.
"The Malaysian Open is the right time for our young players to
compete in an international event after the Olympics," Gosal
said.
With the absence of Hoyer-Larsen, Denmark will rely on Thomas-
Stuer Lauridsen, Martin Lungaard Hansen, Soren B Nelsen and Peter
Gade Christensen.
Hoyer-Larsen may extend his lay-off by skipping the Indonesian
Open in Medan, North Sumatra, held a week after the Malaysian
Open. Many top players will be absent in Medan including Olympic
women's singles champion Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea, Chinese
badminton queen Ye Zhaoying, Malaysian Olympic men's singles
bronze medalist Rashid Sidek and men's doubles silver medalists
Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock.
Gosal made sure that Indonesia's top players would enter the
US$170,000 Indonesian Open, the richest tournament in the world
grand prix series.
The only major Indonesian absentee is expected to be Gunawan.
Gunawan decided to retire after the Olympics, in which he and
Bambang Suprianto were eliminated in the second round.
National coach Christian Hadinata said that Bambang would be
paired with a young player: "It means he has to start from the
bottom if he is to continue his career." (yan)