Sony Dwi Kuncoro has finally received the chance to crawl out of the shadow of Indonesia's ace Taufik Hidayat after being named the first men's singles player in the Indonesian Thomas Cup squad.

Indonesian Badminton Association named Sony along Taufik, his senior, who will be second singles player. Junior players, Simon Santoso and Tommy Sugiarto, will become the third and fourth singles players in the team.

The Thomas Cup event will be held at Senayan, Central Jakarta from May 11 to 18.

"This era belongs to Sony. It is his time to take my place as the backbone of the team," 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist and world No. 7 Taufik said of his junior.

Sony, now ranked sixth in the world, has more to prove during the biannual event following his roller coaster performance during recent tournaments.

Being a runner-up at the World Championships, Sony has only won once at the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold in September. During his five most recent major tournaments, including the All England in March, he reached only the quarterfinals in four of them.

Taufik hopes Sony can live up to expectations and lead the team.

"It is different from playing in individual events. In the Thomas Cup, we play as a team representing our country. There is a burden, especially if we fail to deliver," he said.

For the doubles, the Indonesian association will field world champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan as the first doubles team. It dropped old-hand world No. 7 duo Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvent Yulianto, replacing them with Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Joko Riyadi, now ranked 17 in the world.

The association put newly-formed pair Candra Wijaya and Nova Widianto in the squad. Doubles specialist Candra teamed up with mixed-doubles specialist Nova only a week before the Badminton Asia Championships, but they managed to reach the finals.

"For me, it's a surprise I was included in the squad," the 31-year-old Nova said, admitting he was still trying to get used to the men's doubles play.

Nova, who partners with Lilyana Natsir to top the mixed-doubles world ranking, promised to train hard to fine-tune 32-year-old Candra, "Otherwise, I would become an easy target for attack."

In the Thomas Cup, Indonesia is pitted in Group D with Germany and Thailand.

With an expected edge over Germany and Thailand, Indonesia might face Group B runner-up either Malaysia or Korea in the quarterfinals and 2006 finalist Denmark in the semifinals. Indonesia fell to Denmark in 2004 Thomas Cup semifinals in Senayan.

Defending champion China is expected to sail through to the finals. Indonesia lost to China in the semifinals in Japan in 2006.

Indonesia, which has claimed the most prestigious men's team event 13 times, aims to grab the title from six-time champion China, which dominated the event in 2004 and 2006.

The association also announced the squad for the Uber Cup women's team with Maria Kristin Yulianti, Adriyanti Firdasari, Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Fransisca Ratnasari in the singles and pairs Jo Novita and Greysia Polli, Rani Mundiasti and Endang Nursugianti, and Lilyana Natsir and Vita Marissa in the doubles.

Popular

Inflation won’t stop at pump

Lawmakers urge modesty for regional leaders after Samarinda unrest

Police thwart smartphone smuggling syndicate from China