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RI to bring extra players for early training in London

Anticipating a small group of shuttlers for the upcoming Olympics, Indonesia will send sparring partners to London for an early training camp before the Games begin, a top Indonesian badminton official says

Niken Prathivi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, April 12, 2012

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RI to bring extra players for early training in London

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nticipating a small group of shuttlers for the upcoming Olympics, Indonesia will send sparring partners to London for an early training camp before the Games begin, a top Indonesian badminton official says.

“We probably will have nine shuttlers qualified for the Olympics: one in mixed doubles, one in men’s doubles, one in women’s doubles, two in men’s singles and one in women’s singles,” the Indonesian Badminton Association’s (PBSI) athletic development chief Hadi Nasri said on Wednesday.

“We really hope to have more players qualify, possibly in doubles ... but due to the team’s needs, we will bring more players to London as the squad’s sparring partners,” he said.

The team is scheduled to leave for London on July 22 to prepare for the Games’ badminton competition from July 28 to Aug. 5.

The possible names for the nation’s Olympic badminton squad include recent All England winners and current world No. 3s Tontowi Ahmad–Liliyana Natsir in mixed doubles; world No. 6 Mohammad Ahsan-Bona Septano in men’s doubles; world No. 8s Greysia Polii–Meiliana Jauhari in women’s doubles, world No. 9 Simon Santoso and world No. 11 Taufik Hidayat, Hadi said.

In the women’s singles, world No. 34 Maria Febe Kusumastuti, world No. 35 Adrianti Firdasari or world No. 41 Aprilia Yuswandari would be tipped to represent Indonesia, he added.

“We will see the development of each shuttler in a few months,” Hadi said.

Organizers of the London Games have said that the men’s singles and women’s singles competitions would each feature 38 players, while the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles would each feature 16 teams. The World Badminton Federation’s rankings as of May 3 will be used to determine which shuttlers will walk onto the court at the Games.

A nation with all singles’ players sitting in the top four will be given no more than three slots in London, or two slots if the nation has all of its players in the top 16. However, nations with only one player in the top 64 will be given a single slot.

For doubles, a nation with all its players in the top eight will be given two pairs, while nations with one pair in the top 32 will be able to field a single pair at the Games.

Shuttlers have two last international events to use to boost their world rankings: the Badminton Asia Championships in China from April 17 to 22 and the India Open Super Series from April 24 to 29.

PBSI secretary-general Yacob Rusdianto said that the team was aiming for at least one gold medal. “The chance for Indonesia to win at the Olympics is wide open. Being world No. 1 does not mean you automatically win the Olympics.”

Meanwhile, Yacob said that the PBSI had not decided who would represent the nation at the Thomas and Uber Cup finals from May 20 to 27.

“The closing date for entries is May 7. At that time, we will have exact names for the Thomas and Uber Cup,” he said.

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