PBSI unveils ambitious programs for 2004<\/p>\n
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Guangzhou, China<\/p>\n
Despite the failure of the national women's team to reach the
\nsemifinals of the 2002 Uber Cup, the Badminton Association of
\nIndonesia (PBSI) has still set itself the ambitious goal of
\nbringing back badminton glory to Indonesian soil.<\/p>\n
\"We must work hard to regain our domination of world
\nbadminton, and there is still ample time to prepare and improve
\nour shuttlers,\" PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung said here on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
\"I have already set up a special team to prepare our shuttlers
\nfor a clean sweep of the badminton events at the 2004 Athens
\nOlympics.<\/p>\n
\"Two and a half years of preparation will be more than enough
\nto reach that goal.\"<\/p>\n
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Indonesia won gold with the men's
\ndoubles team of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan, and two silvers
\nfrom men's singles Hendrawan and the mixed doubles team of
\nMinarti Timur and Tri Kusheryanto.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has won at least one gold medal at every Olympics in
\nwhich badminton has been included. At the 1992 Barcelona Games,
\nSusy Susanti and Alan Budikusuma won gold in the women's and
\nmen's singles.<\/p>\n
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja
\nwon the men's doubles gold, and Candra and Tony kept the
\ntradition alive in Australia.<\/p>\n
Chairul said he had appointed eight-time All England champion
\nRudy Hartono, who also took part in the 1992 Olympics, to lead a
\nspecial team to prepare for the 2004 Olympics.<\/p>\n
\"I myself will chair the team but Rudy will be responsible for
\nthe day-to-day technical matters. PBSI will provide all the
\nnecessary resources.<\/p>\n
\"Rudy will cooperate with other PBSI officials to synchronize
\ntheir work programs. I will review every decision before signing
\noff on it to prevent any possible clashes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's women badminton players have fallen fast and far
\ndown the world rankings since Susy's retirement in 1998. The
\nsituation was worsened when shuttler Mia Audina Tjiptawan moved
\nto the Netherlands in 1999, to follow her Dutch husband and
\npartly because of a feud with PBSI officials.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's 3-2 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday, with Mia
\ncontributing two points for her adopted country, meant that for
\nthe first time ever the national women failed to advance to the
\nUber Cub semifinals. The national women had already lost 3-2 to
\nHong Kong in the Uber Cup opener.<\/p>\n
\"The girls should have won both matches because we still have
\na slight advantage over Hong Kong and the Dutch,\" Chairul said.<\/p>\n
Chairul was particularly disappointed with second singles
\nplayer Ellen Angelina, who failed to win crucial points in both
\nmatches.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Rudy acknowledged that winning five gold medals at
\nthe next Olympics would be extremely difficult given the current
\npoor play of the women shuttlers.<\/p>\n
\"Our women badminton players are performing so badly. We do
\nnot have any shuttlers of Susy's caliber, and it will take a long
\ntime to produce another shuttler like her.<\/p>\n
\"All we can do is groom the youngsters by sending them to as
\nmany tournaments as possible in the next two years,\" he said.<\/p>",
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