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Indonesia eyes more berths for Rio Olympics
Della Destiara Haris is back with former partner Rosyita Eka Putri Sari as the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) is looking to enhance the nationâs qualifying chances for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
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D
ella Destiara Haris is back with former partner Rosyita Eka Putri Sari as the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) is looking to enhance the nation's qualifying chances for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Indonesia's top women's doubles pair Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari look set to take their berth at Rio berth with the pair currently ranked number five in the world.
Della formerly paired with Rosyita earlier this year before splitting due to the latter's injury. Della was then paired with Rizki Amelia Pradipta, who herself used to be the partner of Pia Zebadiah Bernadet.
Based on their performance at the Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold, the Vietnam Open Grand Prix, the Japan Open Super Series and the Korea Open Super Series, PBSI did not seem to be satisfied with the Della/Rizki combination.
On the other hand, Della/Rosyita were finalists at the German Open Grand Prix Gold while with Pia, Rizki won a title at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2013.
'Della and Rizki failed to meet expectations. They should be performing well to build points for the 2016 Olympics' qualification,' PBSI head coach for women's doubles Eng Hian was quoted as saying by PBSI's website, badmintonindonesia.org.
Other pairs in contention for a berth at Rio include Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani and Anggia Shitta Awanda, Suci Rizki Andini and Maretha Dea Giovani and Gebby Ristiyani Imawan and Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah.
However, Eng conceded that those pairs had yet to show promising performances to back up the Greysia/Nitya pair.
'Every female shuttler in the national training camp has an equal opportunity to compete in order to nail a spot to go to Rio alongside Greysia and Nitya,' he said.
PBSI is still desperate to find second-layered pairs for the women's doubles event. The men's doubles line-up has already being secured, including its second-layered pairs.
'Della had a hope with Rosyita, before the later got injured, but the partnership with Rizki didn't work. It doesn't mean that Rizki's was not good, it's simply because their playing style did not match,' he added.
Della and Rosyia have been training together for the Korean Masters in November. The event will be their first test since reuniting with one another.
Indonesia will rest its medal hopes on badminton. Indonesia is currently in the world's top three in the badminton medal collection, with six gold, six silver and six bronze medals, since the sport was first played at the 1992 Barcelona games.
The six gold medals were attained by Alan Budikusuma and Susi Susanti (Barcelona 1992); Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja (Atlanta 1996); Tony Gunawan and Chandra Wijaya (Sydney 2000); Taufik Hidayat (Athens 2004) and Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido (Beijing 2008).
