Badminton: Indonesia Shuttlers Begin Quest for Cup
Jakarta Globe
Sandy Pramuji | February 12, 2012
Indonesian shuttlers will step onto the court on Monday with one thing in mind — ending a very long wait to lift the Thomas and Uber Cups again.
But the first thing the men’s and women’s teams have to do is survive the Asia zone qualifying rounds in Macau.
The men’s team last lifted the Thomas Cup in 2002 when it won the world team championship in Guangdong, China.
It’s been even longer for the women. The last time they won the Uber Cup was in 1996 when the legendary Susi Susanti led the team to victory in Hong Kong.
China has since dominated the men’s and women’s championships. And Indonesia has recently been underperforming at major international tournaments. Not one of the country’s shuttlers has won a title at the sport’s biggest tournaments, the Super Series, since the mixed doubles team of Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir took the top spot at the Singapore Open in June last year.
But the secretary general of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), Yacob Rusdianto, said anything was possible at team events, which have a different atmosphere than individual ones.
“In team events, shuttlers are representatives of the country, so they will fight harder on the court in order to make the country proud,” he said in telephone interview on Sunday.
“That’s why we are optimistic about qualifying for the finals and then taking both trophies. If we don’t have that optimism, why bother playing in the championships?”
The top five men’s teams and the top four women’s teams in the Asia zone qualifiers will go on to the main tournament, which takes place from May 20-27 in Wuhan, China.
The men’s team looks like the surer bet to qualify after it was drawn into Group B with India, Singapore and Macau.
It opens against host nation Macau today, followed by Singapore the next day and India on Wednesday.
On paper, Simon Santoso and company shouldn’t have any serious problems being one of the top two teams to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I think if the players are all focused and respect all of their opponents, we’ll win the group,” said Christian Hadinata, national team coach. “The toughest matches will be in the quarterfinal where we could face either Malaysia or South Korea.”
The country’s top singles player, Simon, said he was ready for the competition and would give his all.
“We’ve been training hard for this and we’ll try not to disappoint,” he said before the team left for Macau on Thursday.
The women’s team could have a much more difficult time of it in Macau.
Indonesia was drawn into Group Y where it will face Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and regional rival Thailand.
Advancing to the quarterfinals is a safe bet, but where Indonesia finishes in its group is of the utmost importance.
Eleven-time champion China is in Group W with India and Malaysia, and in the last eight, the Group Y runner-up will meet the Group W winner. So if Indonesia fails to win its group, it will likely have to beat China to reach the Uber Cup finals.
“We’ll take it one game at a time. We don’t want to think about the quarterfinals or China,” said doubles specialist Nitya Krishinda Maheswari.
The women’s team starts its group campaign against Sri Lanka today.
