Badminton: A source of pride but for how long?<\/p>\n
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
An SMS from a friend on Monday morning reminded me that there was
\na major event going on in Anaheim, California. The SMS was indeed
\ngood news: the Indonesian mixed doubles pair of Nova Widianto and
\nLilyana Natsir had won the World Badminton Championship crown,
\nthe first for Indonesia in 25 years.<\/p>\n
At many offices around the country, meetings had to be delayed
\nand files were left piling up as badminton fans stared at their
\nTV sets to watch the live broadcast.<\/p>\n
People shouted \"Oohhh..\" when men's singles finalist Taufik
\nHidayat failed to return a smash from China's Lin Dan. But the
\ncrowds erupted in joy after the Indonesian won the final in
\nstraight sets, people forgetting they were at their workplaces.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, everyone turned into commentators, giving their
\nopinions on what men's doubles Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto
\nshould do in their encounter with America's Indonesian-born and
\nIndonesian 2001 men's doubles world champion Tony Gunawan (who
\nwon in 2001 with Halim Heryanto) and Howard Bach.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian pair, unfortunately, ended up bowing out to the
\nAmericans.<\/p>\n
People's enthusiasm for the games, however, showed that
\nbadminton remains among the most popular sports for Indonesians,
\ndespite our sportspeople's sliding achievements in international
\nevents recently.<\/p>\n
While it was great, it was also somewhat surprising to see
\nIndonesians getting three berths in the championships finals; the
\nlast time this happened was a decade ago in Lausanne,
\nSwitzerland. At that time, Heryanto Arbi won the men's singles
\ncrown, Ricky Subagdja and Rexy Mainaky took the men's doubles
\ntitle and women's doubles Finarsih and Lili Tampi came in as
\nrunners-up.<\/p>\n
This time around, Taufik becomes the world's first men's
\nsingles shuttler to be both an Olympic gold medalist (won last
\nyear in Athens) and the world champion. He was the sixth
\nIndonesian shuttler to win the world champion men's singles
\ncrown.<\/p>\n
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) should be proud
\nof its shuttlers' achievements, particularly after coming under
\nfire for its decision to send only 10 of the 20 players who
\nqualified for the event.<\/p>\n
Secretary-general MF Siregar argued at the time: \"We are only
\nsending those players with a strong certainty of making the
\nsemifinals.\"<\/p>\n
PBSI chairman Sutiyoso said the association needed to be
\ntarget-oriented, saying that \".. if a player is already certain
\non paper of being thrashed in the first round, why send them?\"<\/p>\n
Looking at the list of winners, these Indonesian players
\nshould be considered \"old hands\". Taufik and Nova have been on
\nthe team's lists for such major events since 1999 and Candra and
\nSigit first won the 1997 title. Lilyana, meanwhile, was the only
\nnewcomer.<\/p>\n
But these victories from veterans, however sweet, mean the
\nPBSI leadership needs some time for introspection. After all,
\nthese high caliber players may well not be around in two years'
\ntime for the next world championships, or for the 2008 Beijing
\nOlympics.<\/p>\n
For our winners, their achievements show that they are of a
\nworld-class standard and should not be \"downgraded\" to compete at
\nlower levels, such as in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in
\nManila later this year.<\/p>\n
They should concentrate solely on four- and five-star
\ntournaments as well as major international events like the Thomas
\nCup and Asian Games next year.<\/p>\n
Sports organizations, particularly the National Sports Council
\n(KONI), should instead prepare the second-best players for the
\nSEA Games and other regional events.<\/p>\n
Such a scheme would push those still at the provincial or
\nnational level to work harder so they could compete at national
\nor international tournaments.<\/p>\n
Rejuvenation is a key word here -- sports organizations must
\nkeep their top athletes' dominant, while improving their up-and-
\ncomers' performance in international events.<\/p>\n
Coaches also have to improve their knowledge of training and
\ngame psychology to help boost their athletes' performance. The
\nPBSI's idea to have a standardized coaching method -- just like
\nthe Chinese already have -- should be supported and followed up
\nby other sporting organizations.<\/p>\n
Domestic competitions, meanwhile, should be conducted
\nregularly, while talent scouting and recruitment should be an
\nindependent process without high-ranking sports officials'
\ninterference in a bid to avoid favoritism.<\/p>\n
Only with that we will see more young players emerge, more
\ncompetitions staged and more events broadcast. When this happens,
\nmake sure that you switch the TV to \"mute\" when watching
\nbadminton matches and keep your voice low to make your boss
\nhappy. Unless, of course, your boss is already watching.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/badminton-a-source-of-pride-but-for-how-long-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}