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.
Doubles get byes, daunting task awaits at singles events
Lady luck seemed to smile on the Indonesian badminton team ahead of the Total BWF World Championship to be staged at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium on Aug
Change Size
L
ady luck seemed to smile on the Indonesian badminton team ahead of the Total BWF World Championship to be staged at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium on Aug. 10-16 with eight of its representatives getting byes to the second round.
They are Maria Febe Kusumastuti in the women's singles; Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan, and Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi in the men's doubles; and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii in the women's doubles event.
In the mixed doubles event, Indonesia's favorite pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir as well as Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto/ Riky Widianto and Richi Puspita Dili, and Edi Subaktiar and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaya are also through to the second round without even breaking sweat.
'Some players are lucky to have avoided seeded players in the early round, but whoever qualified for this World Championship must be ready to face any opponent,' said head of the Indonesian Badminton Association's (PBSI) national training camp Ricky Subagja after the draw ceremony at the Bank Indonesia Museum in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The draw was attended by, among others, chairwoman of the Indonesia Olympic Committee (IOC) Rita Subowo, president of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen, PBSI's secretary general Anton Subowo and a BWF referees' representative Anthony Linggian.
Ricky said that the preparation by the athletes ahead of the tournament had gone pretty well.
The PBSI had earlier announced that it would expect the men's doubles and mixed doubles to reclaim the world titles seized by Hendra and Ahsan, and Tontowi and Liliyana two years ago.
Both pairs could not defend the title last year due to injuries suffered by Ahsan and Tontowi.
'We are also pinning our hopes on Nitya and Greysia,' Ricky said.
Nitya and Greysia were the gold medalists at last year's Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea and they took the Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold title after defeating Chinese twins Luo Ying and Luo Yu last week.
'I hope the target we set will not be a burden for them, because as athletes they must have a strong will to win in any tournament they are facing,' added Ricky.
While their compatriots secured their second-round tickets easily, men's singles shuttlers Tommy Sugiarto who won the Russia Open Grand Prix tournament on Sunday in Vladivostok will have to make his way from the first round.
He will face non-seeded player Pablo Abian of Spain, while Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka will play against Kevin Cordon from Guatemala. He will likely face the ninth-seeded player Son Wan-ho of South Korea in the second round, as the latter will compete against another non-seeded player Ville Lang of Finland in the first round.
Lindaweni Fanetri will play against the Netherlands player S. de Visch Eljbergen. She will likely meet Minatsu Mitani, the 13th-seeded player from Japan who gets a bye in the first round.
The last time Indonesia hosted the World Championship was in 1989, nine years after hosted the event for the first time in 1980. The 2015 Total BWF World Badminton Championship will see almost 400 athletes representing five continents competing in the tournament.
