Top players will participate in the Asia Cup Badminton Championship, scheduled to be held in Singapore from May 2nd to 6th, 2001, a top official of the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) said on Tuesday.

The US$ 170,000 tournament has a winner purse of US$ 80,000, which will be shared among the four team members (two singles and one doubles), making it the most lucrative badminton competition in the world.

Datuk Punch Gunalan, Secretary of the ABC said that with the huge prize money at stake and the postponement of the World Grand Prix Finals, it is almost guaranteed that all the teams will be fielding their top players.

Defending Champions Indonesia should have a strong outing, with world No. 2 Taufik Hidayat, No.7 Hendrawan and No. 8 Marleve Mainakv to choose from for the two singles positions and top ranked doubles combination Flandi Limpele - Eng Hian as expected starters.

China should be well positioned to threaten Indonesia's dominance of the championship with current world No.4 and Sydney Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng, former world No.1 Xia Xuanze or No.9 Chen Hong in the singles and the pair of Zhang Wei - Zhang Jun in the doubles.

Malaysia's high flying Swiss Open champion and current world No.3 Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann should see action in the singles, with world No.4 doubles specialists Choong Tan Fook - Lee Wan Wah providing fire power in the doubles.

South Korea should also field a strong team with top ranked Hyun Lee and Tae Sang Park in the singles. South Korea's strength in the doubles team might make it a tough choice between current world No.6 Lee Bong Soo - Yoo Yon Sung and tenth-ranked Tae Kwon Ha - Dong Moon Kim.

India, led by newly crowned All-England champion P. Gopichand (World No.6), will be looking to cause an upset for the world badminton powers of Indonesia, China, Malaysia and South Korea.

Host nation Singapore will be fielding their naturalized Indonesian - Chinese power pack of Indra Wijaya and Ronald Susilo in the two singles. With the expected home crowd support behind them, they will pose a threat to any of their opponents. Aman Santosa - Lau Kim Pong should be featured in the doubles.

Hong Kong's Tam Kai Chuen and Indonesia-born Hong Kong representative Agus Hariyanto's current form have also made them a force to be reckoned with. World No.18 Liu Kwok Wa - Njoto Albertus Susa should provide the right strength for the doubles.

The final team slot will be decided between Japan and Thailand later this week, says Gunalan.

(People's Daily 03/28)