O

ne of Indonesia’s key players in the men’s doubles, Hendra Setiawan, could not join the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup squads to Thailand on Thursday for a key qualifying round because of dengue fever.

“My thrombocyte [platelet] count is still dropping,” Hendra told The Jakarta Post on Thursday, confirming that he was being treated for dengue fever at Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta since Wednesday evening.

“My doctor told me not to go because I will probably only start recovering in the next three days,” Hendra wrote in a short message to the Post when asked about the possibility of him joining his teammates in Thailand.

“Let’s wait for tomorrow’s [blood] test,” he said.

Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) secretary-general and manager of the Thomas Cup team, Yacob Rusdianto, said he hoped Hendra would recover within the next three days and catch up with the squad in Nakhon Ratchasima, where the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Asia Zone preliminary will kick off from Feb. 22-28.

“We have a ticket for him to fly to Thailand on Feb. 21. Hopefully, Hendra will be well by then,” Yacob said, adding that he only learnt about Hendra’s illness on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Hendra’s doubles partner, Markis Kido, flew to Thailand with the squad on Thursday. Yacob said contingencies were in place if the world number three men’s doubles pair could not play.

“Kido can pair with either Yonathan [Dasuki], [Muhammad] Ahsan or Alvent [Yulianto]. The men’s doubles coach will decide that later,” he said.

Men’s doubles national coach Sigit Pamungkas said earlier he was considering leaving the country’s top duo on the bench to give an opportunity to younger players Yonathan/Rian Sukmawan and Ahsan/ Alvent, in the first day Group A qualifier against Singapore.

“I think the male shuttlers in our Thomas Cup team are much better than Singapore’s and Vietnam’s, the two other countries in the group,” Sigit said.  

Singapore is counting on men’s doubles Hendra Wijaya/Hendri Kurniawan Saputra, ranked 21st by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), while Vietnam will depend heavily on men’s singles Nguyen Tien Minh, who is ranked eighth in the world by the BWF.

This year, Markis and Hendra, who won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, will make their third appearance for the country in the Thomas Cup squad. Their previous stints brought Indonesia to the Thomas Cup semifinals in Jakarta two years ago and in Japan four years ago.