http://badminton-indonesia.com/phpn...ews&file=article&sid=73&mode=&order=0&thold=0 After 231 days of separation, Chandra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto are back together, although only for Thomas Cup simulation. The former world number one pair played against their actual partner Halim Haryanto/Trikus Harjanto. "This is just for refreshment," said Sigit. Sigit learnt that he will be separated from his partner on the night before the final of World Championship 2003. Their game in the final was an anticlimax of their performance in the previous rounds. With no concentration on the game, they finally bowed to Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark. Chandra--as planned--was quickly paired with Halim Haryanto and had quite a good acceleration in 2003 in the world arena. In their debut, they reached the semifinal of Indonesia Open 2003 but their best result was only at the Denmark Open 2003 where they lost to Ha Taek Kwon/Kim Dong Moon in the final. After that, they have not managed to reach the top. Sigit, on the other hand, had to wait a while for a partner because there is not one available. Luluk/Alven were already paired and performing well, plus the consideration of the experience gap. PBSI (Indonesian Badminton Association) finally made the decision to pull out Trikus Harjanto from the mixed doubles squad. Trikus is Sydney Olympic silver medalist with his partner Minarti Timur. When Minarti Timur withdrew from the national team, PBSI then quickly paired Trikus with Sigit. Not as lucky as the other pair, Sigit/Trikus mostly fail in the early rounds of tournaments. Trikus is still adjusting to the pace of men's doubles games. Their best result together was only as semifinalists at the Malaysia and Hong Kong Open 2003. The rest is either losing in the first or second rounds. Splitting Chandra & Sigit was a stunning decision considering two important events are just around the corner. Indonesia wants to keep the Thomas Cup and keep the custom of getting the gold medal at the Olympics. The two new pairs--Chandra/Halim and Sigit/Trikus--are still struggling really hard to be eligible for the Olympics. Indonesia needs to push one more pair to join Flandy/Eng and Alven/Luluk who are already in the safe area. Chandra/Halim, who have better chance than the other pair, had a bad luck when Chandra was hit with dengue fever just before Swiss Open 2004. They could not go far in the event as well as in All England that followed it. Indonesia's Chef de Mission for Thomas Cup, Luthfi Hamid, personally asked Chandra and Sigit to be paired. In fact, all the men's doubles teams are randomly paired. "We are preparing for alternatives if one player from a team has an injury," says Christian Hadinata, PBSI Director. At the event, Luluk Hadiyanto was paired with Flandy Limpele while Alven Yulianto fights together with Eng Hian. "I have no problem at all playing with Sigit. We both know each other['s characteristics in badminton games]," says Chandra. While Sigit says,"This is just for a change of atmosphere." THOMAS CUP Team Garuda - Team Rajawali 3-0 Taufik Hidayat - Wimpie Mahardi 15-6, 15-6 Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto - Tri Kusharjanto/Halim Haryanto 15-13, 15-13 Simon Santoso - Taufiq Hidayat Akbar 15-10, 15-11 Luluk Hadiyanto/Flandi Limpele - Alven Yulianto/Eng Hian (not played) UBER CUP Tim Garuda - Rajawali 3-2 Silvia Antarini - Lidya Djaelawijaya 11-7, 11-8 Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita - Eny Erlangga/Lilyana Natsir 17-16, 16-17, 15-3 Adrianti Ferdasari - Yuli Marfuah 11-8, 11-4 Heny Budiman/Gresia Polii - Endang Nur/Rani Mundiasti 14-17, 3-15 Fransiska Ratnasari - Wiwis Meilani 13-10, 11-5
Re: Re: Chandra & Sigit Reunited Sigit found out himself from a word of mouth, not directly from coach. That's why he was shocked. Maybe the coach wanted to wait till end of tournament, but too late I guess.
Thus the lapse of concentration, I'd say. Now that they are coming back together (for the while, at least), is the winning combination back in order? I truly hope so. The feeling must be that of relief and familiarity as they know each other well. No wonder Candra/Sigit looked pretty out of focus, esp Sigit during WC03, and by word of mouth some more.
They could not get back to their original form before the Olympic. Plus, they are in jeopody of qualifying for the the event in august. I would love to see them in action once again. Best of luck to them.
From the news that I heard, the man behind this reunited is Mr. Luthfi Hamid -Indonesia's Chef de Mission for Thomas & Uber-. He asked Chandra and Sigit to be paired to 'save' Indonesia. But according to Christian -PBSI Director-, it is the matter of preparing for alternatives if some player get an injury.
True, they won't be paired permanently. Afterall, Sigit/Trikus is now qualified for the Olympics, while Chandra/Halim isn't yet.
