Asuncions vow to dish out their best

Win or lose, the Asuncions, Kennivic and Kennie, are expected to bring the house down tonight.

Ranked 24th in the world of mixed doubles, the Asuncions will certainly be the underdogs when they are pitted against England’s Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms who, incidentally, are the world’s No. 1 pair.

"But we’ll try our best to get as many points as we can. Ganoon lang ang focus namin. We don’t want to focus on the outcome because it will make you happy or sad," the 24-year-old Kennivic told scribes last Monday.

"So point, point, point lang kami and hopefully we’ll win. We don’t think about the pressure because it will not help us play well. We’ll just do our best whatever happens out there," he added.

The Asuncions have faced the same pair, the reigning Swiss Open and All England champions, during the 2003 Korean Open and, as their rankings would suggest, came out on the losing end, 15-7, 15-7.

"That’s why we trained hard for this event. We even went to Korea for some training," added Kennivic who, along with his elder sister, has been on top of Philippine badminton for the last couple of years.

"Basta all-out kami," added Kennivic.

Expect the crowd to go all-out cheering them on, too.

* * *

Unknown to his Filipino fans, Taufik Hidayat, the reigning Olympic badminton champion from Indonesia, is playing hurt.

After his masterful come-from-behind victory over Denmark’s Anders Boesen at the start of the MVP Cup Asia vs Europe the other night at the Philsports Arena, the gold medalist in last year’s Athens Olympics admitted that he is just recovering from an injury.

Through Datuk Punch Gunalan, the team manager of the Asian team, the smiling and boyish-looking Hidayat, 23, said he is still being bothered by a pulled abdominal muscle, which forced him out of the recent Malaysia Open.

But at least he did not show it.

"I love the Philippines so much and I don’t want to disappoint the fans here," he said following a 15-13, 15-4 win over the 29-year-old Boesen, a veteran of two Thomas and Uber Cups, four European Championships and three World Championships.

"I love the Philippines because I won my first international title here. The Philippines gave me the start," added Hidayat, who won the singles title in the 1997 Asian Juniors held in Manila. It was the first of 20 career victories capped by the Athens gold.

Hidayat said the Filipino crowd who cheered him on shot by shot, point by point played a big role in his match against Boesen, who zoomed to an early 8-1 lead in the first set only to falter the rest of the way.

"Yes, the crowd played a part," said Hidayat.

Boesen, who sat beside Hidayat in the post-match interview, took his hat off to the Indonesia badminton icon.

"I should have won the first set but he wanted it more. Then he was too good for me in the second," he said.

If he could have his way, Hidayat would still love to play in today’s third and final men’s singles. But his team manager was quick to say that it’s not for the player alone to decide.

"That depends, we haven’t decided yet. And as you know we have players from China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea. So we have to discuss it with all the players," said Datuk.