Veteran shuttlers picked to make Games clean sweep

JAKARTA (JP): In an effort to meet the National Sports Council target of a clean sweep in badminton, the Badminton Association of Indonesia has decided to rely on veteran players instead of its second stringers.

The men's singles coach Indra Gunawan told reporters yesterday that the association preferred to field 30-year-old Joko Suprianto, world ranked 20, and world number two Hariyanto Arbi in the men's singles individual event instead of world ranked 10 Indra Wijaya.

"It's not that I don't believe Indra could not perform better but we prefer a safer way to win the gold. Joko performs steadier than Indra if under pressure," Gunawan said.

"We are also focusing Indra to play in the team event as the second singles after Hari (Hariyanto)," he said.

In the group A men's singles, Hari will probably meet his toughest rival Yong Hock Kin of Malaysia while Joko is expected to meet another Malaysian, Ong Ewe Hock, in the semifinals.

Gunawan predicted that Hari would be able to overcome Yong better than Indra, who lost to the Malaysian in the Indonesian Open in July.

Joko should not face any trouble taming Ong, who beat Hari in the World Cup badminton tournament in August.

"If this was not to meet the council's target, I might have gambled and played Indra in the individual event because he proved himself in the Asia Cup early this year," Gunawan said.

Another consideration for the association is that Hari and Joko have been in peak form recently while Indra's condition has not been very good.

"It's not the deciding factor but Indra has often lost to his rivals during practice recently," Gunawan said.

The badminton organizers have scheduled the team event from Oct. 12 to Oct. 14 with Indonesia and Malaysia as the top seeds in the men's team event and Indonesia and Thailand the seeded nations in the women's team event.

The individual events will start on Oct. 16 and end on Oct. 18 with Hari, Joko, Ong and Yong as the top seeds.

In the women's singles, Susi and Mia will only face tough competition from Pornsawan Plungwech of Thailand and Ishawari Boopathy of Malaysia.

Walkout

The volleyball technical meeting yesterday was marked by a walk-out from a representative of the Singapore officials, who declined to continue attending the meeting after all the delegations agreed to use Molten balls as the official ball instead of Mikasa.

"The Indonesian Volleyball Association has not used Mikasa in the last two years," said Rita Subowo, the Indonesian beach volleyball technical delegate.

The Indonesian volleyball association has a contract with Molten to use its products in all events but the Games consortium signed another contract with Mikasa without consulting the association.

Thailand's officials also complained about the organizers' failure to give them two hours training every day as was scheduled.

Despite the complaint, Thailand still aims to fight hard against Indonesia in the indoor volleyball tournament.

"We are aiming for two gold medals from the men's and women's indoor volleyball," Pravech Rattanapian, Thailand's team manager, told The Jakarta Post.

However, Pravech said his team would not expect to get the golds in the beach volleyball, which is being contested for the first time in the SEA Games history.

Host Indonesia, which only won two bronzes in the last Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, plans to make a clean sweep in both indoor and beach volleyball.

Volleyball training director Soetardiono said that the stiff target was designed to motivate the players to give their best and was not intended to burden them.

"We expect them to perform all-out in the Games," he told the Post.

He said that in indoor volleyball, the Indonesian team had to keep an eye on Thailand, while in beach volleyball they will face a serious challenge from Thailand and the Philippines.

The indoor volleyball event starts on Oct. 12 and ends on Oct. 18, while the beach volleyball event begins on Oct. 16 to Oct. 18.

Indonesia will field its best beach players for the Games. Timmy and partner Engel Bertha Kaize, who qualified for the 1996 Olympic Games, and Yayah Rodiah/Agustin will team up in the women's side while Nur Mufid/Markoji, who also played in the Olympics, and Agus Salim/Irikhun Sofanna will team up in the men's competition. (ste/yan)