60 players to join badminton center
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)