Indonesia's future safe in Audina's hands
Indonesia may be hard-pressed to retain their Uber Cup crown in Hong Kong over the next few days, but the long-term outlook looks rosy simply through the presence of a slip of a girl called Mia Audina. Audina represents the future of Indonesian women's badminton. Yesterday, the 16-year-old Audina played her part perfectly as Indonesia defeated Russia 5-0 to book a place in the semi-finals against Korea on Thursday. In the other semi-final China will meet Denmark, who last progressed to this stage in 1984. Cheered on by a large and raucous contingent of students from the Hong Kong Indonesian School in Causeway Bay - who had been given the day off to watch their idol - Audina swept to an 11-7, 11-0 win over Russia's Elena Suchareva.
The Indonesian Badminton Association's training director Iwan Setiawan described Audina as 'an outstanding talent'. The youngest female player to represent the country, Audina is certainly that.
But he refuses to pin his country's hopes of winning a second successive Uber Cup on her slight shoulders, even if Audina has already climbed that peak - winning the last Uber Cup almost single-handedly. In the 1994 final against China, she won the crucial final singles tie against the more-experienced Zhang Ning to give Indonesia a momentous 3-2 victory. Indonesia's hopes will begin with Olympic champion Susi Susanti. But if they are to win the Uber Cup, they will have to do well in the other two singles and in the two doubles.
'I don't want to put too much pressure on Audina. She will play the second singles and I just want her to go out and enjoy [herself]. We will have to depend on the other players to get us through. Audina is a player for the future,' said Setiawan. Audina is a player of the present too. She started playing when she was six. Her first national championship was in 1991 as an 11-year-old. She is ranked 11th in the world. This is her second Uber Cup.
In this tournament, Audina has already won two of her three matches in straight games. Her only loss was to China's world champion Ye Zhaoying in last Saturday's group game, a tie in which Indonesia 'rested' their top player Susanti. Yesterday, Susanti was back in action. She was hardly needed as the Russians were outclassed in less than two hours, losing all their matches in straight games. It was a result which hardly surprised Russian manager Vladimir Lifshits. 'We expected to lose 5-0. The gulf between Indonesia and Russia is wide. Our girls are not supple like the Indonesians who are also far ahead of us tactically and technically,' said the outspoken Lifshits. His Indonesian counterpart, Setiawan, pledged that Indonesia would send more players to future Russian Opens.
But his mind was on the present and the Uber Cup final. 'Our aim is to make the final. We want to play in the final, but it will be very tough against the Koreans. I would say our chances are 50-50,' said Setiawan. Meanwhile, both China and Denmark progressed to the semi-finals last night scoring 5-0 wins over Japan and Hong Kong respectively. The territory were no match for the Danish women who have waited 12 years to make the final four of this world team finals. Hong Kong's only moment of joy came in the second doubles when Ng Ching and Tung Chau-man pushed Lisbert Stuer-Lauridsen and Marlene Thomsen all the way. The local pair led 14-13, but ultimately lost the first game 17-14. They rebounded to take the second game 15-7, but ran out of steam in the decider losing 7-15. Hong Kong went down in straight games in the rest of the matches.