Indonesia ready to meet any opponent at quarter-final stage in Thomas Cup Preliminary Round
The Indonesian team manager Mohamad Faryansyah said that Indonesia is ready to meet any opponent at the quarter-final stage in the Thomas Cup Preliminary Round as all shuttlers are prepared to take the challenge. They are expected to meet either Malaysia or South Korea.
According to Faryansyah, both countries will try their best to get top position in Group D to avoid a clash against Indonesia. The winner of the group will face India in the quarter-final clash of the qualifying round.
Faryansyah is confident that his shuttlers will put up strong show of top quality badminton and will rise on the occasion no matter who steps in the court to face them at top-8 stage.
However, Faryansyah admitted that both teams are very experienced and it will be a challenging quarter-final match against them.
He said, "I think both teams are quite concerned and will try to avoid us but we are well prepared. Let them decide who wants to play us. Our objective here is to qualify for the final rounds and we must win the quarter-final clash. It is going to be a hard match no matter who we play.”
While talking about the strength of both teams, Faryansyah said that Malaysia looks stronger in Men’s Singles on paper while Korean pairs have an upper hand in Men’s Doubles category.
Indonesia’s former Olympic and World Champion and current World Number 12, Taufik Hidayat said that both, Malaysia and Korea, have balanced teams and he is expecting a tough fight against any of his opponent from these countries in quarter-final.
A determined Taufik said that he will help his team by winning his fight in the quarter-final and will also get the precious ranking points for 2012 London Olympics.
He said, "Both teams are about the same and I don't think I am going to get an easy match with Malaysia or South Korea. I'm not only focused on helping Indonesia qualify but also to improve my world ranking to qualify for the Olympics."
South Korea and Malaysia will fight today in a Group D match and the winner will get the top position in the group as both countries have won their opening matches against Hong Kong.
Tags: