Indonesian badminton team sets realistic target of medals for Beijing Olympics

JAKARTA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian badminton team would not be preoccupied by exceeded medal target, said manager of Indonesian badminton team for Beijing Olympics Lius Pongoh.

"As usual, we bring home gold medal. One gold is okay, two golds, thanks God," Lius Pongoh told Xinhua.

All athletes have taken intensive training in the camp. The period of training sessions for badminton is a bit more permanent and regular.

The training camp is located in suburban area of eastern part of Jakarta. "So far, all athletes have pushed their physical condition much better. This is for improving the performance during the competition in Beijing later," he said.

"Anyway, we see the strength of participating countries for badminton has spread. So I guess we could never know the result of the competition, particularly men's category, until the final games," he said.

He mentioned the name of Lin Dan of China, Lee Ching Wei of Malaysia, Park Sung Hwan of South Korea. "All of them are tough opponents for Indonesian," he added.

Badminton has been the shoulder to keep Indonesia's position of medal tally since 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The last 2004 Athens Olympics, Indonesian team won one gold from men's single Taufik Hidayat, and two bronze medals from men's double category.

The gold medallist Taufik Hidayat returns, together with his peer for men's single Sony Dwi Kuncoro shoulder the expectation of Indonesian badminton fans for the upcoming Beijing Olympic games.