World shuttlers still consider Indonesia Open prestigiuos

JAKARTA (JP): Competing shuttlers at the US$170,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open considered the five-star tournament prestigious, despite the last minute withdrawal from badminton powerhouse China and neighbor Thailand due to security reasons following the snap special session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"It's still a strong tournament especially in the men's singles. There are so many talented shuttlers," Swede Rasmus Wengberg told reporters, after a training session at Bung Karno Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.

"The tournament will remain tough even if all top 20 shuttlers are absent. Their absence has also helped boost my chance a little. I have a difficult draw to face Indonesian Budi Santoso in the first round."

Authorities in China and Thailand had called on their players to cancel their trip to Indonesia regarding the heated political condition since Friday.

World number one Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark and fiancee Camilla Martin, world number two, have opted to skip the event preparing themselves for the World Grand Prix Finals from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12 in Brunei Darussalam.

Sweden's coach, Atik Djauhari, told reporters that significant effects would take place in the women's singles and doubles, which were dominated by the Chinese.

"Men's singles shuttlers will still fight very hard to grab the title and I believe that Indonesia can retain its domination in the men's doubles."

"My shuttlers may not perform well here but I ask them to do their best. I have set a different target for the Singapore Open next month."

The Badminton Association of Indonesia's (PBSI) secretary general, Leo Chandra Wiranata, insisted that this year's event was still prestigious despite the absence of some top shuttlers.

"We still have other top shuttlers including Gopichand and host Hendrawan in the men's singles. We also still have the world's strongest men's doubles pairs."

"I must admit that we have a minor setback with the absence of the top shuttlers. We can't expect them to always play in an event especially when we have seven or eight tournaments in a row."

Last week's Malaysian Open runner up, Rony Agustinus, said he would not underestimate his opponents here.

"It's my dream to grab the title here after losing to host Ong Ewe Hock in the Malaysian Open. But I will just concentrate on match after match," he said.

"My experience in Malaysia has boosted my confidence on the possibility of tough matches. I'll likely meet second seed Pullela Gopichand of India in the third round and I believe he has made good preparation."

Main sponsor PT Sanjaya Sakti, distributor for Japanese electronic giant Sanyo, general manager Nancy Felicia said the company was not deterred by the country's heated political development at the moment.

"It has been Sanyo's commitment to always support art and sports activities in countries where we have business activities. The solid proof of this commitment has been our decision to increase the prize money from $150,000 to $170,000," she said at a media conference, prior to the event.

"Despite this year's worsening political conditions, we have more participants than in last year's event when the situation was relatively better."

"We are satisfied with the number of participants. Last year 17 countries participated but it has now increased to 22 countries." (nvn)