Silvi battles against odds at Milo junior meet<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
Reigning champion Silvi Antarini has dealt the ongoing Milo
\nJunior Indonesia Open badminton championships a blow with her
\nmockery of both the seeding calculation and the country's
\nbadminton-governing body, PBSI, in her defeat of pretournament
\nfavorite Dewi Tira Arisandi here.<\/p>\n
The former national junior was the 2001 champion but she has
\nfallen outside the top eight, which is dominated by the current
\nnational squad, following her lack of competitive activity for
\nalmost four months ahead of the event.<\/p>\n
Silvi was removed from the national lineup after only one year
\nin the training camp for disciplinary reasons.<\/p>\n
But the 18-year-old, who is only rated ninth out of 16 at the
\ntournament, proved the calculation was wrong and signaled she
\nstill deserved a place in the national squad, with her 11-0, 11-1
\nwin over Dewi at the Sudirman Sports Hall.<\/p>\n
As the score shows, Silvi totally dominated the match, winning
\nrallies with her sharp drives and cutting drop shots, which
\ncaused her opponent to lose all idea of how to improve her play.<\/p>\n
\"I was at a loss, my power deserted me,\" Dewi said, her eyes
\ndowncast dejectedly.<\/p>\n
Silvi's victory also revealed her domination over her former
\ntraining mate in their head-to-head matches. In their 18 meetings
\nSilvi has lost only once, in Surabaya in 1998, when both were at
\nthe outset of their badminton careers.<\/p>\n
However, Silvi did not appear to heed the ratings. Neither was
\nshe preoccupied about her hopes in the competition after her 2001
\ntriumph.<\/p>\n
\"I had no intention of defending the title. The 2001
\nchampionship was a year behind. What I have in mind is that I
\njust want to play as well as possible,\" she told The Jakarta Post
\nafter the match, her father IGM Sumandra beside her.<\/p>\n
Starting to play badminton when seven years of age, Silvi
\nbegan to show her prowess at local competitions in Jakarta from
\nearly 1993 onward. She was recruited to the national training
\ncamp in Cipayung, East Jakarta in March 2001 and promptly paid
\noff the move, winning a bronze medal at the Asian Junior
\nChampionships in Taiwan the same year, while her teammates fell
\nat the wayside.<\/p>\n
Another unforgettable moment she would like to savor was her
\nvictory at the Asian Students Championships in the Philippines
\nearly this year.<\/p>\n
But days after her Philippines triumph, she was booted out of
\nthe training camp, in a way she considered rather unfair.<\/p>\n
It happened when Silvi was persuaded to enter a local
\ncompetition in West Sumatra, the provincial origin of her mother,
\nand was deemed to have violated the rules as she went without
\nhaving asked the permission of the training camp's officials.<\/p>\n
While saying she had asked someone to seek permission on her
\nbehalf, she admitted her mistake in not doing it personally. But
\nshe regretted the fact that PBSI officials did not give her a
\nchance to explain herself.<\/p>",
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