China firm favourites for Sudirman Cup

By Prakash Padukone

SEVILLE, MAY 26. Seville in Spain will play host to the 12th badminton World championship & seventh Sudirman Cup starting from Monday. This prestigious event, played every alternate year, happens to be one of the most important tournaments in the IBF calendar. The importance of this tournament can be gauged from the fact that there are only two seven star tournaments at the moment in the IBF calendar & World Championship happens to be one of them despite the fact that there is no prize money at all in this event. The other seven star event being the Olympics which

incidentally also does not offer any prize money.

World Championships was first played in 1997 at Malmo, Sweden & since then this tournament has gained in stature & importance and has never looked back. Until 1977 there was no official World Championships conducted by IBF. The winner of the All England was considered as the unofficial World champion. Initially this event was played once in three years & it was only from 1983 that it was converted into a biennial event. Another notable feature is that the World mixed team event for the Sudurman Cup was added to the individual events only in 1989.

As Sudirman Cup is a mixed team event, any nation hoping to do well in this format has to be strong both in men's & ladies sections. Similarly as there are three paired events in a tie, a country has to be good in both singles & doubles. In view of the above only three countries viz. Indonesia, China & Korea have been able to lay their hands on the Sudirman Cup since its inception in 1989. China has already annexed this title three times in a row - in 1995, 1997 & 1999 and start as the hot favourite to continue its reign.

China's strength comes mainly from its ladies team which is almost assured of wining the singles and doubles titles. From the remaining three matches i.e. men's singles, doubles & mixed doubles, the team needs to win only one match to wrap up the tie which is not very difficult considering its strength in these events. The toughest challenge to the Chinese is likely to come from Indonesia, Korea & Denmark.

Traditionally India has not fared well in the Sudirman Sup mainly because of its format. It is a well-known fact that our weakness lies in paired events i.e. men's doubles, ladies doubles & mixed doubles. Hence even if we manage to win both the men's and ladies singles, we still need a point from the doubles players - both men & women. Thus doubles players will play a crucial role in India forging ahead.

This time more than 50 countries are taking part in the Sudirman Cup and they have been divided into seven groups. India is drawn in Group 3B along with Hong Kong, Wales & Austria. Our initial target will be to head Group 3B which means that we will have to get the better of Hong Kong & Wales. Hong Kong is likely to pose the toughest challenge to the Indians. Even if we manage to top Group 3B, it does automatically grant us a promotion to Group 2 in the next edition. We will have to beat the winner of Group 3A - likely to be Russia or Canada- to earn the promotion.

India has a better chance of fairing well in the individual events which begin from June third. After his excellent performance in the All England, reigning National champion Gopi Chand will certainly be one of the contenders for the World title. However it will not be an easy affair for Gopi as he will have to once again contend with players like Peter Gade, Taufik Hidayut, Rosalim Hasim etc.

Also traditionally not many players have managed to win both All England and the World Championship in the same year. Only two players have managed to achieve this feat since the inception of the World Championship in 1977 - Flemming Deffs of Denmark did it in the inaugural year & Yang Yang of China followed suit in 1989. This has happened because All England is played in March & World Championships in May.

It is therefore tough for the players to reach their peak twice within such a short span of time. It therefore remains to be seen how Gopi will fare in this tournament. In addition Gopi will also be playing under pressure as the expectations will be high & at the same time all the top players will be wanting to take revenge. In case Gopi manages to win the crown it will certainly be an incredible achievement.

In the individual events Gopi has been drawn to play Johan Hadikusuma of Indonesia in the second round. The winner of this match will clash with the winner of the tie between Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei, who was the runner-up in the last World Championship at Copenhagen in 1999 & George Rimarcdi of Sweden in the next round. Abhinn Shyam Gupta has a tough opening round against the top seed Rosalim Hasim of Malaysia.

Indian badminton has seen a resurgence after Gopi's victory in the All England. There is no doubt that the game will get a much bigger boost if Gopi is able to pull it off. But whether that will actually happen remains to be seen.

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