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Badminton: Squads Named as Indonesia Looks to End Drought
Ami Afriatni | January 24, 2012

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Vita Marissa’s withdrawal was the only surprise as the Indonesian Badminton Association announced the teams for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup on Tuesday.

The association, known as the PBSI, picked the country’s top players for the biennial world team championship’s Asian zone qualifying rounds in Macau from Feb. 13-19. The finals will take place from May 20-27 in Wuhan, China.

Men’s doubles specialist Bona Septano and women’s singles player Bellatrix Manuputty are the only shuttlers making their debut in the event.

“These are the best shuttlers we have right now,” PBSI secretary general Yacob Rusdianto said at the Cipayung training facility in East Jakarta on Tuesday. “We firmly believe the teams will qualify for the finals in China.”

The top five men’s teams in the qualifiers will go to the Thomas Cup finals, while the top four women’s teams will qualify for the Uber Cup finals.

In a potentially risky decision, the PBSI called up several players who are battling injuries.

Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (leg), Mohammad Ahsan (arm), Greysia Polii (shoulder) and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (hip) now have just over two weeks to overcome their injuries and get ready for the event.

“There’s still time for them to be back at their best because they started training again last week,” Yacob said.

Women’s doubles veteran Vita, who also missed out on the 2010 Uber Cup because of injury, said she had decided to withdraw from the team.

“It was because my current doubles partner, Nadya Melati, was not included on the team. Instead, [the PBSI] wanted to pair me with Liliyana [Natsir],” the 31-year-old shuttler said. “I had a good partnership with [Liliyana], but it was long ago.

“I asked the PBSI to call up Nadya but they refused. So I thought that it would be better for the team if I withdrew.”

During their partnership from 2006 to 2008, Vita and Liliyana won two Super Series titles.

PBSI replaced Vita with Shendy Puspa Irawati.

Indonesia has a record 13 Thomas Cup titles, but has not won the men’s tournament since 2002. It finished second in 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, after losing 3-0 in the final to China, which won the trophy for the eighth time.

The Indonesian women last lifted the Uber Cup in 1996. They were defeated 3-0 by China in the 2010 semifinals.

The draw for the qualifying rounds will be held in Macau on Monday. Yacob said the team would leave on Feb. 9.

Thomas Cup squad

Singles: Simon Santoso, Taufik Hidayat, Tommy Sugiarto, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka

Doubles: Bona Septano, Mohammad Ahsan, Alvent Yulianto Chandra, Hendra Aprida Gunawan, Markis Kido, Hendra Setiawan

Uber Cup squad

Singles: Lindaweni Fanetri, Adrianti Firdasari, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, Bellatrix Manuputty

Doubles: Greysia Polii, Meiliana Jauhari, Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, Anneke Feinya Agustine, Liliyana Natsir, Shendy Puspa Irawati