JAKARTA, Feb. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Indonesian female shuttlers are told to cope with the pressure in their tough qualifying group for the Uber Cup finals in Japan this April, a newspaper said Tuesday.

    The group includes South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and Iran and will kick off qualifying matches Wednesday in Jaipur, India.

    Coach Ivana Lie, a former star shuttler, has said that if they failed to cope with the pressure and failed in the qualification, "it would be real bad," reported The Jakarta Post.

    "If the shuttlers can play without pressure and really push themselves, they will qualify," she said on Monday. "If there is a psychologist or a motivator in the team, it would help a lot."

    "Otherwise, we may not qualify and that would be an ignominious first."

    Indonesia won the Uber Cup three times, in 1974, 1994 and 1996; and were runners-up in 1968, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1986 and 1998.

    Ivana sees South Korea as the favorite in the group to easily qualify with another berth being fought for by the remaining four teams. However, Iran should not be a threat, she added.

    According to Ivana, Malaysia has better singles players than Indonesia, but the doubles have equal skills. She also said that Indonesia had an equal chance with Chinese Taipei to win.

    The Indonesian team has world No.38 Fransisca Ratnasari Hari, Maria Kristin (43), Adrianti Firdasari (47) and Wiwis Meilina (117) in the singles and Jo Novita/Greysia Polii (18), Lita Nurlita/Nathalia Poluakan (38) and Lilyana Natsir/Rani Mundiasti in the doubles. Enditem