60 players to join badminton center

JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) plans to admit 60 players -- 40 seniors and 20 juniors -- to the Indonesia Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

PBSI secretary-general Leo Chandra Wiranata said on Wednesday the decision was reached during a meeting between the association and its West Java, Jakarta, Central Java and East Java chapters.

The decision comes after PBSI chairman Subagyo Hadisiswoyo said two months ago he planned to reduce the number of players at the center because of the association's declining financial condition.

PBSI will send all shuttlers to their respective clubs on Dec. 16 to allow the athletes to train for the national interclub championships in Banjarmasin from Jan. 23 to Jan. 28. The event was originally to be held from Jan. 9 to Jan. 14, but was delayed to allow athletes to celebrate the Christmas and Idul Fitri holidays.

The body will call the players to the center after the championships.

"PBSI has yet to decide which senior shuttlers will be admitted to the center, but the number will be between 38 and 42. I can only say that those who compete in the Korea Open early next year will stay at the center," he said.

PBSI plans to send more than 12 shuttlers to Korea. They will begin training for the event on Jan. 4.

"With the large number of shuttlers, PBSI will ask the chapters to help finance the junior shuttlers from their respective provinces to the tune of Rp 1 million (US$105) per athlete per month. PBSI will evaluate the situation after six months. If PBSI has the budget to finance the juniors after six months, then it will take over the financing. But if it doesn't have any money, we can negotiate further with the chapters after the evaluation," Leo said.

He said another reason for having the chapters help finance the training of the junior shuttlers was so the chapters would have an emotional attachment to PBSI.

"Every two months, PBSI will hold a meeting with the chapters and clubs to monitor the development of the younger shuttlers," he said.

The youngsters admitted to the center will be selected from the 28 players who competed in the World Junior Championships in Guangzhou, China, in November, and other talented players between the ages of 14 and 16. The final evaluation will take place at the national interclub championships.

For the older shuttlers, the evaluations will take place after the 2001 Sudirman Cup and World Championships in Seville, Spain, in May.

Leo also said Christian Hadinata remained the leading candidate to become the center's new training director. (yan)