Cheerful Faces And Enthusiasm, The Indonesian Team Is Ready To Fight In The Sudirman Cup Quarter-finals

Indonesian Team in Sudirman Cup (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The manager of the Indonesian badminton team, Eddy Prayitno, has ensured that the Garuda squad is currently in good health, prime and ready to fight for the 2021 Sudirman Cup quarter-finals which will be held at Energia Areena, Vantaa, Finland.

“The condition of the team is very good. Their faces are happy and excited. All healthy, no injuries, ready to fight. This is the capital to face the Sudirman Cup quarter-final match," said Eddy in an official statement received by Antara in Jakarta, Thursday.

The quarter-finals of the world mixed team championships will be held on Friday, October 1. Meanwhile, the draw for the last eight will be carried out by BWF on Thursday, September 30 at 21.00 local time or Friday morning WIB.

“What is even more exciting is that the togetherness and cohesiveness of the team is maintained. All activities are carried out together, from breakfast, lunch, to going to the training ground. This is a positive thing and very important to face a team championship like the Sudirman Cup,” added Eddy.

Meanwhile, regarding the names of the players who will be fielded in the quarter-finals, he admitted that he was still waiting for the results of the players' training this afternoon. In addition, he is also waiting for the results of the Sudirman Cup quarter-final draw.

“We are still waiting for the results of the draw, who will we meet. After the draw is out, we will have a meeting with the coaching team to determine who will defend the Indonesian team and play in the knockout round tomorrow," said Eddy.

However, he ensured that the selected players would be the strongest and best team that Indonesia had.

"We will field the strongest and best team in the quarter-finals. Who will be the players later, just the most prepared and the best," said Eddy.

Women's doubles head coach Eng Hian added that the two pairs are also in good health and spirit. During the three times he competed, he considered the performance of Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu and Ribka Sugiarto/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti very good.

"Evaluation so far, the performance of the two female pairs is good, especially Greysia / Apriyani who remain grounded. They do not consider themselves Olympic champions. They can also perform optimally every time they are played," said Koh Didi, Eng Hian's nickname.

As is known, in the Sudirman Cup group stage, Indonesia recorded three victories, namely 5-0 over the National Badminton Federation of Russia (NBFR), then 3-2 over Canada and 3-2 over Denmark.

With these results, Indonesia finished as the winner of Group C, followed by Denmark in second place. Meanwhile, NBFR is in third place and Canada is in last position.