TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Top men shuttlers to focus on training at home
Indonesia’s top men’s shuttlers will undergo intensive training at home in the next seven weeks prior to the Thomas Cup’s May finals in Malaysia, thus giving the opportunity to younger players to compete at the Asia Championships in April — the last top tournament before the Thomas Cup
Change Size
I
ndonesia’s top men’s shuttlers will undergo intensive training at home in the next seven weeks prior to the Thomas Cup’s May finals in Malaysia, thus giving the opportunity to younger players to compete at the Asia Championships in April — the last top tournament before the Thomas Cup.
“We had little preparations for the [Thomas Cup Asian Zone] preliminary rounds in Thailand. We don’t want a repeat of that. So my focus is seven weeks of training at home for my top shuttlers,” national men’s singles coach Agus Dwi Santoso said Friday.
Because of the training at the Indonesian Badminton Association’s (PBSI) training camp in
Cipayung, East Jakarta, world number 11 Sony Dwi Kuncoro and world number 12 Simon Santoso will be absent from the Badminton Asia Championship on April 12-18 in New Delhi.
The Gold Grand Prix-level tournament in India is the only international event left before the Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur on May 9-16.
The country’s best professional shuttler and world No. 4, Taufik Hidayat, and his juniors, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, Tommy Sugiarto, Andre Kurniawan Tedjono and Nugroho Andi Saputro,
though, will still participate in the event.
Taufik and Hayom were the last two Indonesian shuttlers to crash out at of the ongoing Swiss Super Series.
Taufik, who last week reached the All England quarterfinals, surrendered 15-21, 12-21 to Japanese Kazushi Yamada, while Hayom, who was beaten in the first round of the All England series, lost 12-21 21-17 15-21 to Chinese eighth-seed Chen Long on Thursday.
“We’re thinking about adding Hayom to our Thomas Cup finals roster.”
Sony, Simon, Taufik, and Tommy were the men’s singles shuttlers at the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifier in Nakornratchasima, Thailand, in February.
“We’re thinking about adding Hayom to our Thomas Cup finals roster,” Agus said, when asked
about changes to the Thomas Cup finals team.
There will be a similar focus for the men’s doubles squad, which will focus on full daily trainings for top pairs Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, and Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan, who are now professional shuttlers. Both pairs will be absent from the tournament in India.
When asked how the poor showing at the recent All England and Swiss Super Series would affect preparations for the Thomas Cup finals, national men’s doubles
coach Sigit said: “I could tell they lacked preparation. That’s why we need to intensify our Thomas Cup preparations.”
Markis and Hendra had their best showing at the All England event, reaching the semifinals, while Alvent and Hendra lost in the first round.
They also failed to advance from the first round of the following Swiss Super Series in Basel.
National women’s doubles coach Aryono Miranat expressed confidence in her team’s performance
at the Uber Cup finals after his newly paired proteges Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari became the country’s only female shuttlers to reach the All England quarterfinals. Greysia shares eighth rank
in the world with Nitya Krishinda Maheswari.
Greysia and Meiliana, along with their previous pairings, Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Shendy Puspa Irawati, and Annisa Wahyuni and Anneke Feinya Agustine will continue honing their performance by competing at the India event.
Aryono said he was considering adding professional shuttler Vita Marissa to pair with Lilyana Natsir for the Uber Cup finals team.
