TAUFIK FOCUSING ON EXERCISE FOR ALL ENGLAND

Jakarta, Feb 26 (ANTARA) - Indonesian shuttler Taufik Hidayat is intensifying his preparations for the All England badminton tournament to be held in the coming week.

"Right now my focus is more on physical preparations because almost in the last two months I failed to conduct training after participating in the Final Super Series (December 2008)," he said on the sidelines of training at Bhantong Sports Center in Cijantung, East Jakarta on Wednesday.
Taufik, a gold medalist in the Athens Olympic Games, still hoped to win the tournament. He was a finalist in the 1999 and 2000 tournaments but stayed away in 2005, 2007.
Last year he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei. This year he will meet again with the world's number one in the semifinals.
To be included in the big four would not be so easy for the seventh seeded player. "In the first round I already have to face a tough opponent," the winner of a championship title in last year's Macau Open, said.
In the first round of the All England he is scheduled to meet Taiwan's Hsieh Yu Hsin who beat his fellow countryman Sony in the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Super Series.
If he could beat Hsieh, he would have to face India's Chetan Anand or Britain's Andrew Smith. He may also have a chance to play against Denmark's ace Peter Gade or compatriot Simon Santoso in the quarterfinals.
Other Indonesian players currently making preparations for the tournament are Alvent Yulianto and Hendra AG.
Alvent pairing up with Hendra reached the finals of the Malaysia Super Series. They would start playing in the All England against China's He Hanbin/Sun Junjie in the qualification round.
Several other players were also training at the center that day including female players Vita Marissa, Alamsyah Yunus, Joko Riyadi and Anggun Nugroho.
Vita plans to pair up with Flandy Limpele again to play in the mixed doubles in the India Open on March 24-29 while Joko Riyadi plans to pair up with Candar Wijaya in the All England and Swiss Super Series.