FATIGUE, a knee injury and squabbling between Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto - one of the world's top doubles pairs - have virtually put paid to Indonesia's chances of any title in next week's Yonex-Sunrise Singapore Open. Top Indonesian singles player Taufik Hidayat's name was absent when the draw for the five-star US$170,000 (S$300,000) event was released yesterday. The world No 7 withdrew from the tournament just hours before the draw was conducted. Indonesian team manager Aryono Mirwanad told Timesport that the 2001 Singapore Open champion was not coming because of a knee injury. Taufik's compatriot Sony Dwi Kuncoro is also not hopping on that short flight to Singapore. Aryono said that the world No 6 was tired after the World Badminton Championships held in Birmingham two weeks ago. The country's singles challenge at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from Aug 19 to 24 will now be spearheaded by three virtually unknown youngsters - Wiempie Mahardi, Taufiq Akbar Hidayat (not related to the world No 7) and Ardiansyah. And without 1997 world champions Candra and Sigit, their doubles chances have been severely blunted. The pair quarrelled after finishing second in Birmingham, and have gone their separate ways. Indonesia can now only place their hopes on defending champions and world No 5 pair of Eng Hian and Flandy Limpele to take a trophy home from Singapore. But even without the top Indonesian shuttlers, the draw for the Singapore Open - the first Grand Prix event since the Korea Open in April - threw up some tantalising clashes in the early rounds of the men's singles. Defending champion and Chinese world No 1 Chen Hong will meet All-England winner Mohammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in the first round. Chen lost 14-17, 10-15 to Hafiz in the All-England final six months ago. Denmark, the traditional European challengers, will have to fight a mini civil war first before they can battle Asia's best. World No 2 Kenneth Jonassen is likely to play compatriot Peter Gade Christensen in the second round, with the winner squaring off against another Dane, 1997 world champion Peter Rasmussen in the third round. No such problems for host nation Singapore. Joint fifth-seed Ronald Susilo and permanent resident Indra Wijaya are the only shuttlers given slots in the main draw. Susilo, who was runner-up last year, will play Antti Viitikko of Finland in the first round. His first real test is most probably joint ninth-seed Shon Seung Mo of South Korea in the third round. Shon upset Chen in the quarter-finals of the World Championships. Indra will play India's Abhinn Shyam Gupta in the first round. Singapore's other entries, including Commonwealth Games champion Li Li, will have to go through next Tuesday's qualifying rounds. The 20-year-old will meet Commonwealth bronze medallist Aparna Popat of India. Fellow Singaporean Xiao Luxi will play Maja Tvrdy of Slovenia. Said Li Li: 'I'm not in my best shape now, so I know every match will be a really tough battle. Still, I hope to do well in my own country.'
This has further confirmed that PBSI is in a mess. Very little control over players. Apart from Sony Dwi Kuncoro, cannot see any future stars emerging at the moment.
