Indonesia has announced a list of players that will represent the country in the Thomas Cup, and Uber Cup, which will be held in New Delhi, India, from May 18 to 25.
The list that released by The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), includes 30 players, comprising eight men's singles players and five men's doubles pairs with the Uber Cup team made up of six singles and four doubles pairs.
The men’s team is spearheaded by All England champions Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, three young shuttlers Jonatan Christie, Ihsan Maulana Mustofa and Hanna Ramadini, who have just joined the national team this year. Indonesia is looking to end its decade-long title drought in the Thomas Cup this year.
In the press conference where PBSI chairman Gita presented Rp 2 billion (US$176,786) in bonuses to All England champions Hendra/Ahsan (men’s doubles) and Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (mixed doubles) who won the All England mixed doubles three times in a row. Coaches such as Herry Iman Pierngadi (men’s doubles) and Richard Mainaky (mixed doubles) also awarded some bonuses due to their contributions to the team.
Gita Wirjawan also said: “Our shuttlers who either is training in Cipayung [PBSI training center] or who train outside Cipayung have geared up for year’s Thomas Cup and Uber Cup.” "We hope they can set a good example for other players to do better in future tournaments," Gita added.
"We've achieved better than expected result in All England early this year, our next targets are the Thomas Cup, the BWF World Championships, the Asian Games and the BWF Super Series Premier," Gita said. "Among these tournaments, Thomas Cup and Uber Cup are the most important one; the last time we won the Thomas Cup was in 2002 and Uber Cup in 1996. This year, the Indonesian team is the top seed in the Thomas Cup and fifth seed in the Uber Cup, behind China, Japan, Thailand and South Korea. We will fight hard to win in these tournaments” Gita said.
PBSI will finalize the final roster for Thomas Cup and Uber Cup at the end of April. The final count will be 10 players for each team.
