World champs head list at Sanyo tourney in Batam
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Less than a month after the end of the World Championships in Birmingham, the world's top players are set to return to high- level competition when the US$170,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open begins on Batam Island on Aug. 26.
Meanwhile, the organizers tried to quell security fears in the wake of the Marriott bombing by saying that none of the 35 participating countries had announced their intention of withdrawing from the tournament.
"As of today, we haven't received any withdrawal notifications from the participants. A few of them called us, asking about security. But we told them our security policy was well planned and comprehensive," Cahya, the tournament director, said during a media conference here on Thursday.
The week-long tournament, which will take place at the Tumenggung Abdul Jamal Indoor Sports Hall, is expected to be dominated by tight rivalries given that all the champions and runner-ups from the Birmingham meet, which ended on Sunday, will feature among the 550 players.
The new world champion in the men's singles, Xia Xuanze of China, will again face potentially tough opposition from Wong Choong Han, whom he defeated in the Birmingham finals.
Indonesia will be resting its hopes on Taufik Hidayat and Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Taufik was the winner of the 2002 tournament in Surabaya, East Java.
Taufik fared dismally in Birmingham but said he was ready to put the disappointment behind to defend the title.
"I'm well prepared for the tournament. It gave a disappointing performance at the world championships. But I have already put it behind me and I'm ready to defend the title," he said.
His fellow Sony, the 2002 Asian champion, was looking forward to the competition, hoping that the world's top players would all come to the tournament so as to give him a real test.
"I will be striving to improve over my performance in the world championships," said the 19-year-old, whose world campaign came to an abrupt end in the quarterfinals at the hands of Wong Choong Han.
Newly-crowned Zhang Ning and Gong Ruina, both from China, will carry on their Birmingham rivalry in the women's singles event in Batam. Both were also the 2002 finalists with Gong taking the victory.
Candra Wijaya, who will have a new partner in Halim Haryanto, will be given the chance to take revenge on Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark in the men's doubles.
Candra, then paired with Sigit Budiarto, had his title hopes dashed after losing in the finals.
In the women's doubles, Gao Ling/Huang Sui of China will be coming to Batam not only to prove their true quality after winning the world title but also to defend their Indonesian Open championship.
In the mixed doubles, the Batam meet will mark the return of world champions Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min after they skipped last year's tournament.