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.
RI shuttlers hope to reclaim world titles at home
Gearing up: Workers prepare the venue for the 2015 Total BWF World Championships while players try out the court at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Sunday
Change Size
Gearing up: Workers prepare the venue for the 2015 Total BWF World Championships while players try out the court at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Sunday. The championships will kick off on Monday and last until Sunday.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (JP/Seto Wardhana)
G
span class="inline inline-center">Gearing up: Workers prepare the venue for the 2015 Total BWF World Championships while players try out the court at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Sunday. The championships will kick off on Monday and last until Sunday.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
Indonesian badminton players hope to seize world title from the 2015 Total BWF World Championships that will kick off on Monday at the Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium, Jakarta.
Two Indonesian pairs, Hendra Setiawan and Muhammad Ahsan along with Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, won the world men's doubles and mixed doubles titles, respectively, in 2013 in Guangzhou, China, but were unable to defend them last year due to injuries suffered by Ahsan and Tontowi.
'We were unable to defend the titles we won in 2013, but now that we have become the host we think that if we can win in China, we must be able to win in Indonesia,' Liliyana said in a press conference on Sunday.
'We have prepared ourselves two months prior to this tournament. Hopefully we can win,' added Tontowi.
Ahsan lauded his compatriots saying that he was really disappointed last year about being unable to participate in the tournament and unable to defend the men's doubles title.
'I hope we will be more motivated to win with support from the home crowd,' said the 2014 Asian Games gold medalist.
The world's number one men's singles champ, Chen Long, hopes to clinch a second straight badminton world crown, but women's defending champion Carolina Marin is less confident after returning from injury just a fortnight ago.
Chen, 26, is in superb form having swept four titles this year and enters the Jakarta tournament as the top seed, with Danish star Jan O Jorgensen a distant second.
The Chinese shuttler has been laying solid groundwork for another gold medal since defeating Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in Copenhagen last year to snag his first world title.
'It just gave me really a lot of confidence,' Chen said, speaking through a translator.
'I really hope to get my second singles world championship this year.'
He will not cross top rivals Lee and fellow countryman Lin Dan in the early stages ' they are in different halves of the draw ' and are expected to cruise to the quarterfinals without incident.
Indonesia's 15th seeded Tommy Sugiarto said that anyone could win the title including the unseeded players. 'It all depends on their preparation and strategy,' he said.
But things have not gone as smoothly for women's world number one Marin, who nearly missed badminton's most prestigious event after suffering a foot injury a month ago.
The Spaniard, who has won three titles already this season, said she felt 'better than before' since returning to the court two weeks ago but was taking it one step at a time.
'I don't want to think about defending the title from last year,' she said.
'I just want to enjoy the competition and do my best.'
Marin last played in Jakarta in June, when she was knocked out of the Indonesian Open in the first round, complaining of fatigue and injury.
