Indonesia on hunt for Cup
May 14th, 2008 | by Indonesia First |OTHER nations may not think so but for Indonesia, winning the Thomas Cup is just as important as winning an Olympic gold medal.
And as long as the shuttlers who are expected to win do so, Indonesia’s men’s singles coach Hendrawan believes the hosts will be victorious.
“The Thomas Cup is as important as the Olympics, so we will not sacrifice the Cup to win a gold medal in Beijing,” said Hendrawan yesterday.
“I believe that as long as the shuttlers expected to win do so and the players expected to lose, try to win, we will win matches.”
Rumour has it that the Indonesian Thomas Cup team are not focusing on winning the Cup after their slow start in the group stages. On Sunday, Indonesia were surprisingly taken to the wire by Thailand with Simon Santoso clinching the final point in the third singles for a 3-2 victory.
Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Taufik Hidayat were surprisingly beaten by Boonsak Ponsana and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk respectively in the first and second singles.
Hendrawan said the slow start was expected as the players need to play a few matches before getting the feel of competition.
“We knew that some of our shuttlers would lose in the group stages. We were not too bothered about the overall score as what is more important is that we won.
“However, as hosts, we want to win the Thomas Cup to win back our fans. The fans have yet to forgive us for losing in the semi-finals to Denmark in the 2004 edition here at the Istora Senayan.
So I am saying to the other teams not to take us lightly as we will be going for blood from now on,” said Hendrawan, a former world champion.
On Taufik’s current form, Hendrawan declined to comment as the reigning Olympic champion is not coached by him. Taufik is coached by Mulyo Handoyo.
nst.com.my
