Indon-Chinese duel looms in JVC badminton

An Indonesia-China duel for top honors looms as they will be fielding in top-caliber teams in all five divisions in the $150,000 JVC Asian Badminton Championships which gets underway Aug. 22-26 at the Philsports Arena.

Taufik Hidayat, the defending champion in men’s singles, spearheads the mighty Indonesia squad which includes ladies singles standouts Ellen Angelina and Atu Rosalina and the reigning men’s champion pair of Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto, also the Sydney Olympics gold medalists.

Indonesia, perhaps the best spawning ground of badminton talent in the world, bagged three of the five titles last year, including the mixed doubles crown, which Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur vow to defend this year.

Xie Xinfang, who rallied from a set down to beat Angelina for the ladies singles plum last year, will not be around to defend her title but depth of the Chinese roster remains as talent-laden as ever with Zhang Ning, Dong Fang, Hu Ting and Tang Chunyue out to foil their Indon rivals and keep the ladies singles crown.

Focus will also be on the world No. 1 ladies doubles team of Gao Ling and Huang Sui, which will challenge the reigning Korean champs Lee Hyo-jung and Hwang Kyung Jin and the highly-fancied Indon tandem of Dayana Lomban and Vita Marissa.

But expect a surprise or two from the rest of the 19-team field with South Korea, Malaysia, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong ready to do battle against the Indons and the Chinese in the event sponsored by Japanese electronic giant JVC.

Malaysia, for one, will be led by its top men’s singles player in Lee Tsueng Seng, who finished runner-up in the recent Indonesia Open. Also in the fold is Seng’s compatriot, Yong Hock Kin, who ruled the 1999 Indonesia Open.

The Philippines, which is hosting the region’s premier badminton tournament for the first time in 32 years, is also fielding in a full-packed team in all five divisions, led by siblings Kennivic (men’s singles) and Kennie (ladies singles) Asuncion and the men’s doubles tandem of Melvin and Jaime Llanes.

Although they are not given too much of a chance to make it all the way to the championships, the Filipinos will have so much to gain in this event in terms of exposure and high level of competition.

The event, to be telecast over IBC 13 and NBN 4, is organized by the world’s top marketing company IMG (International Management Group) and backed by Yonex, Manila Galleria Suites, 103.5 K Lite, 96.3 DW Rock and The Philippine STAR.

The men’s singles offers a top purse of $11,000, while the distaff side stakes $7,500 to the champion. Up for grabs in the men’s doubles is $13,000 top prize, while the ladies doubles and the mixed doubles offer $7,500 purse each to the champions.