Indonesia counts on doubles for All England

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 02/28/2008 11:29 AM  |  Sports

Indonesia looks to the All England championship with reviewed expectations at the annual, oldest badminton tournament.

After relying on men's singles to no avail in the past few years, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) now has hopes men's and mixed doubles could bring back Indonesia's glory.

"We used to heavily depend on men's singles like Taufik, but for this tournament, I think we can count on men's and mixed doubles because they have shown stable performance," one of the team's coaches, Lius Pongoh, said Wednesday during a press conference.

Since Heryanto Arbi won the All England in 1993 and 1994 the country has not tasted singles' victory again. In seasons that followed only Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya triumphed in the men's doubles in 2003.

Markis Kido, paired with Hendra Setiawan for the All England, said he was in good form and was ready for the tournament to be held in Birmingham from March 4 to 9.

The pair has proven their best performance, winning several championships and tournaments including Sea Games 2007, Taiwan Open, China, Hong Kong Super Series and World Championship 2007.

The Indonesian squad comprises 27 players -- four men's and three women's singles, five men's and three women's doubles pairs and four mixed doubles pairs. Some of them will have to go through qualifying stages.

In men's doubles, Indonesia will also count on Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto while the mixed doubles will see world champions and SEA Games gold medalists Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir as the team's best bet.

Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat will be Indonesia's ace in the men's singles along with talented but under-performing Sony Dwi Kuncoro. The other two players are Andre Kurniawan and Tommy Sugiarto.

Maria Kristin, Firdasari Adriyanti and Bernadet Pia Zebadiah will try their luck in the women's singles.

Coach Christian Hadinata said all contenders would come up against some familiar faces in the US$200,000 event, with many regularly playing in a series of tournaments throughout the year.

The players used match recordings to study their opponents' playing style, Hadinata said.

"The key to winning is concentration and passion," said the 1973 All England winner in men's doubles.

Despite PBSI's changed target, Taufik has his own ambition. Drawn against Ronald Susilo of Singapore in the first round, the 27 year old maverick said he targeted nothing but winning the tournament.

"I really want to win because I have never tasted a title at the All England," he said, adding that he was concerned about his dip in stamina.

"The expectation to win in this tournament should not be on me any more because this is not my (golden) period and we need to have successors," said Taufik who hoped to retire at the age of 30.

Taufik was close to winning All England twice when he lost to Peter Gade of Denmark in 1999 and to Xia Xuanze in the 2000 finals.

The semifinal and final of the tournament will be broadcast live on cable TV (Indovision) on March 8 and 9. (ind)

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