Indonesia desperately eyes title in the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011 – Badminton News
Indonesia desperately needs a breakthrough in any of the five categories at the upcoming All England Open Premier Super Series 2011, to end their seven-year title drought in the event.
The tournament is going to kick-off on March 8, at Birmingham, England.
The last victory for Indonesia in this event came in 2003, when the Men’s doubles pair of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto won the crown. The standard of Indonesian players dropped then and the country’s shuttlers were trailing behind players of China and
Malaysia in major events.
Despite their poor performance in the previous important tournaments, the side is hopeful of putting up a show this time. For the last 16 years, no Indonesian player has won this event in the Men’s singles category.
The former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, who is the World Number Two, has also remained unsuccessful to win any major super series events. Taufik will start his journey against Japanese player, Kazushi Yamada, in the opening round. His compatriot,
Sony Dwi Kuncoro will be facing Bao Chunlai of China, in the first round.
Another talented Indonesian, Simon Santoso, is in good form at the moment as he reached the semi-final of the Malaysian Open Super Series and also penetrated in the top-four in the 2011 Korea Open Premier Super Series event.
Currently, Santoso is Number Thirteen in the Badminton World Federation rankings. He played well last year in the All England Open, but was unsuccessful in beating Peter Gade of Denmark, in the pre-quarterfinal round. However, he took revenge from the Danish
player by beating him in the 2011 Korea Open, at Seoul, South Korea. He also defeated the reigning world champion, Chen Jin of China in the quarter-final battle of the 2011 Malaysian Open. His good start to the current year will play a key role in the upcoming
event.
Santoso will open his campaign against Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, who is the number eight seed in this tournament. It will be a close match as both shuttlers have the same style of play and belong to the same standard of the game. The Indonesian is quite
hopeful for his success in the opening round.
In the category of Men’s doubles, Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido, who are the number four seeds, will keep their hopes high to oust opponents in the event. The duo is the ruling Olympic champion and is one of the major contenders for the title in Birmingham.
The Men’s doubles shuttlers have won the world and Olympic titles and are confident to add the crown of All England Open, to their achievements.
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