Indonesia, long considered among China's fiercest rivals in world badminton, comes into the 2010 Asian Games at one of its lowest ebbs.
Taufik Hidayat is Indonesia's major medal hopeful in the badminton competitions.
A recent dry spell at the top level has hit its nadir this year. Indonesia came away empty-handed from the Thomas and Uber Cups in May and the World Championship in August, and so far it has two titles in 10 Super Series events this year.
Given the unprecedented lack of success, Indonesia head coach Christian Hadinata is realistic about his team's chances in Guangzhou.
"The realistic target for us is bronze," he told the Jakarta Globe. "I like our chances of reaching the semifinals, but I don't know about getting past China. They're still the best in the world."
Indonesia won the men's team bronze at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, losing 3-1 to eventual gold medalist China in the semifinals. It opens against India or Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals and faces a possible semifinal clash with China.
Hopes for individual success are not much brighter. Indonesia's two men's singles entries, Taufik Hidayat and Sony Dwi Kuncoro, could end up facing heavyweights Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and Lin Dan of China in the semifinals.
Sony, ranked 15th in the world, earned the country's first success after winning the men's singles title at the Singapore Open. He has not won since then, though, withdrawing from the worlds with a back injury and losing to an unseeded Malaysian shuttler in the first round of October's Indonesian Open Grand Prix Gold.
World No.4 Taufik, the men's singles gold medalist in 2002 and 2006, also comes into Guangzhou under a cloud. He has titles this season from the Indonesia GP Gold and Canadian Open but has struggled to break through in the Super Series. His best top-flight results this year were losses in the finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series (Lee), World Championship (Chen Jin) and Denmark Super Series (JanO Jorgensen), but he ended his dry spell by winning the singles crown over Denmark's Joachim Persson in this month's French Super Series.
"I would like to win the gold again because that's what I've been targeting this season. However, I think this time it doesn't look possible," Taufik told the Globe. "Three of the top four in the world [Lee, Chen and Lin] are all competing, so I know winning again will be difficult."
Doubles hopes rest squarely on the shoulders of world No.3 pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan. Their path to the final looks clear, although China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng are lurking in the lower half of the draw.
The Indonesian Badminton Association also took a gamble ahead of the Guangzhou Asian Games, breaking up Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir, the world's third-ranked mixed doubles pair. It instead paired Liliyana with Tontowi Ahmad. The move has worked so far as the duo has reached successive second-tier finals in Macao, Chinese Taipei and Indonesia.
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