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)