BASKETBALL KNOCKS RICKY OUT OF WORLD CUP
by Martin Coe (from a report filed by YANG YANG Badminton Equipment)

December 11, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - Ricky Subagja of Indonesia will not be playing in this week's badminton World Cup in Jakarta. The top-notch Indonesian men's doubles player injured himself while playing a pick-up game of basketball on Monday and had to withdraw from the tournament. Substituting for Ricky in the US$190,00 invitational competition will be one of the rising Indonesian doubles stars, Sigit of the Chandra Wijaya-Sigit combination. Sigit will be paired with Ricky's regular partner and fellow Olympic gold medal holder Rexy Mainaky.

Indonesian Tri Kusheryanto of the top-ranked mixed doubles pair of Kusheryanto and Timur, also withdrew from the World Cup. Kusheryanto had slipped and injured himself during the semifinals of the World Grand Prix Finals last Saturday. The injury was aggravated when he played in the championship match on Sunday. Kusheryanto's place is being taken up by compatriot Sandiarto who will now play with Timur during the tournament.

Other players who had withdrawn from the invitational include the top-ranked men's singles player Joko Suprianto (injured during the World Grand Prix Finals and replaced by the Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen who had initially declined to play in the World Cup), Sun Jun of China (injured during the men's singles championship match at the World Grand Prix Finals and replaced by Pang Chen of Malaysia), and Danish men's singles ace Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (replaced by Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark).

Malaysian Rashid Sidek had also withdrawn several weeks ago and Lee Kwang Jin of Korea had been called up to take his place.

The World Cup competitors:

Men's Singles
Group A - Fung Permadi (seed) - Chinese Taipei, Chen Gang - China, Darren Hall - England, Pang Chen - Malaysia
Group B - Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (seed) - Denmark, Lee Kwang Jin - Korea, Jeffer Rosobin - Indonesia, Jeroen van Dijk - Netherlands
Group C - Dong Jiong (seed) - China, Alan Budikusuma - Indonesia, Soren Nielsen - Denmark, Oliver Pongratz - Germany
Group D - Ong Ewe Hock (seed) - Malaysia, Park Sung Woo - Korea, Martin Lundgaard Hansen - Denmark, Jens Olsson - Sweden

Women's Singles
Group A - Mia Audina (seed) - Indonesia, Lee Joo Hyun - Korea, Ann Sondergaard - Denmark
Group B - Wang Chen (seed) - China, Takako Ida (Japan), Christine Gandrup - Sweden
Group C - Ye Zhaoying (seed) - China, Hisako Mizui (Japan), Camilla Martin - Denmark
Group D - Susi Susanti (seed) - Indonesia, Pornsawan Plungwech - Thailand, Gong Zhichao - China

Men's Doubles
Group A - Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock (seeds) - Malaysia, Peter Axelsson/ Par-Gunnar Jonsson - Sweden, Rexy Mainaky/Sigit - Indonesia, Simon Archer/ Chris Hunt - England
Group B - Denny Kantono/Antonius (seeds) - Indonesia, Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah - Malaysia, Andrej Antropov/Nikolaj Zuev - Russia, Tao Xiaoqiang/ Ge Cheng - China

Women's Doubles
Group A - Indarti Isoliana/Denyana Lomban (seeds) - Indonesia, Kim Mee Hyang/ Kim Shin Young - Korea, Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu - China
Group B - Eliza/Rosiana Zelin (seeds) - Indonesia, Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen - Denmark, Ge Fei/Gu Jun - China

Mixed Doubles
Group A - Sandiarto/Minarti Timur - Indonesia, Thomas Stavngaard/Ann Jorgensen - Denmark, Chen Xingdong/Peng Xingyong - China
Group B - Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (seeds) - Denmark, Nick Ponting/ Joanne Goode - England, Nimpele Flandy/Rosalina Riseu - Indonesia