Indonesia facing badminton medal drought at Athens Chris Brummet (AP) Jakarta, August 6 One-time world champions Indonesia acknowledges that winning Olympic badminton medals this year will be tough _ a bleak prediction that the country's TV companies seem to share. Local stations say they will not broadcast live coverage of this year's Olympics because few Indonesians will want to watch their shuttlers struggling in Athens. The decision means Indonesia will be the only country with athletes at the games not to be televising them. "The TV stations know our chances are not as good as they once were," said Rudy Hartono, Olympic team manager and eight-time All England Champion. "It's disappointing." Fourteen years ago in Barcelona, when the sport made its Olympic debut, Indonesia won a horde of badminton medals, including its first ever gold. The performances enthralled millions of TV viewers in the world's fourth most populous country and made national heroes of the shuttlers. Indonesian players have never repeated that performance, but have always managed to return home with at least one gold for their badminton-crazed country. This time around, even that looks unlikely. Many are predicting that arch rival China will sweep unprecedented gold medals in the men's and females singles and doubles. No Indonesian shuttlers are currently in the world's top 10. Its two medal hopes in the men's singles are captain Sony Dwi Koncoro and former world number one Taufik Hidayat. The country's female players whose decline has been more spectacular than the males, have not qualified for the singles events in Athens, though will be represented in the doubles. China's male players occupy five of the top 10 spots in the international rankings. In April in Jakarta, China won the Thomas and Uber Cups _ badminton's premier team events for female and male shuttlers respectively. Indonesian had held the Thomas Cup for the last five years. "We will be trying our best in Athens," said Hartono, who is considered by some as the sport's greatest ever player. "We hope to get medals, but I think it will not be easy, especially against the Chinese team." Indonesian badminton has been shaken by a steady exodus of top players in recent years amid disagreements with the country's badminton officials over salaries. Former world number one Tony Gunawan now plays for the United States, while ex-female star Mia Audina now represents the Netherlands. Indonesia's financial crisis in 1997-1998 left sponsorship hard to find. It also led to massive social unrest in which Chinese Indonesians _ who traditionally form the nucleus of the country's badminton team _ were targeted. Just under half of the 32 Indonesians competing in Athens are badminton players. The country's others chief medal hopes lie in archery and taekwondo.
RI shuttlers meet tough competition [font=Arial, Helvetica] Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta The quest to bring home the gold from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games may prove to be even more difficult than expected, with Indonesia's shuttlers drawn against some tough early round opponents. The International Badminton Federation announced the results of the Olympic draw on Sunday. Indonesia will be sending 14 shuttlers to Athens -- six in the men's doubles, four in the mixed doubles, two in the women's doubles and two in the men's singles. Indonesia won its first two badminton gold medals in 1992 -- the first time the sport was officially staged at the Olympics -- through Alan Budikusuma in the men's singles and Susi Susanti in the women's singles. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the men's doubles pair of Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky won gold, and Candra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan won gold in the men's doubles at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the newly paired Sigit Budiarto and Tri Kusharjanto will have to get past the Polish pair of Michal Logosz/Robert Matusiak in the first round before facing world number two Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon of South Korea. Sigit and Tri, ranked 10th in the world, lost to the Koreans in the Swiss Open, but men's doubles coach Herry Imam Pierngadi is optimistic that Sigit and Tri can get past the Koreans. "It is difficult to beat the Koreans but we must remember that Kim also plays mixed doubles. That might drain his energy," Herry told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, ranked fifth in the world in the men's doubles, and the seventh ranked Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian receive byes in the first round. In the second round, Luluk/Alven could meet the Korean pair of Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung. The Indonesians lost to the Koreans in the semifinals of last year's JVC Asian Badminton Championships. Flandy/Eng Hian will have a second-round match against the winner of the match between Sudket Prapakamol/Patapol Ngernrisuk of Thailand and Nathan Robertson/Clark Anthony of England. Men's singles player Sony Dwi Kuncoro will face a tough test in the first round against Malaysian Roslin Hashim. The more experienced Taufik Hidayat is not expected to have any problems getting past his first opponent, Japan's Hidetaka Yamada. In the mixed doubles, world number five Nova Widianto/Vita Marissa get a first-round bye. Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati will meet the Russians Nikolaj Zuev/Marina Yakusheva in the first round of the mixed doubles. If they can get past the Russians, they will meet world number six Chen Qiqiu/Zhao Tingting of China. "I think Nova and Vita have a better chance of winning a medal than Anggun and Eny if we look at the draw," mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky told the Post [/font]
