Indonesia Open Super Series Premier Launches
Jakarta. The world's top badminton players gathered in Jakarta on Monday (30/05) to compete for the total prize amounting to $900,000 at BCA Indonesia Open Super Series Premier 2016 in preparation for the Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro this August.
The competition — scheduled to run from May 30 to June 5 — commenced at Istora Senayan, Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, on Monday morning with mid-ranking players competing in the qualification round.
A number of top ranked players are confirmed to participate in the event. This includes Chinese men's singles Chen Long and Lin Dan who are ready to compete with Malaysian Lee Chong Wei and Danish duo Viktor Axelsen and Jan O Joergensen who recently secured a Thomas Cup win for Denmark.
Spanish badminton player, Carolina Marin, who competes in the women's singles category has also been preparing herself at Indonesia's training camp in Cipayung to secure title from defending champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
Although the players who have qualified for the Olympics have already been announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the players are still looking for additional points to affect the seeding in the Olympics draw.
“There are 44 players from national training camp who are participating in this tournament and they are ready. This tournament is very important to secure points ahead of the Olympics' seeding,” said Ricky Soebagdja, Indonesia team manager.
Playing in front of cheerful and loud supporters, Indonesia is targeting to secure at least three Indonesia Open wins.
Men's doubles Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, mixed's doubles Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir and defending champion of women's doubles Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda Maheswari are gearing up to secure favorable results at Indonesia Open, said Ricky.
He also believes that three rising players who are competing in the Indonesian men's singles category — Jonatan Christie, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa — stand a strong chance to defeat some of the top players.
Ricky also hopes that women's singles player, Lindaweni Fanetri, will return to her peak performance for the Olympics, as a series of injuries shaded her ranking as the 22nd best player according to BWF last year.
Indonesia will send 10 players to the Olympics in all five categories
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