All England defeats prompt introspection

JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) called psychologist Singgih Gunarsa back to his old job yesterday as it gears up for its Thomas Cup and Uber Cup world team championship titles defense.

The association's athlete development head, Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, said Singgih would help national shuttlers analyze their weaknesses that cost them their campaign in the All England championships in Birmingham over the weekend.

Indonesia came home empty-handed from the championships after its only finalists, the make-shift men's doubles team of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan, fell to South Korea's Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-soon. The poor result was a repeat of last year's event.

"Our shuttlers fall short in making quick decisions on the court during a tournament because they cannot recognize their weaknesses and evaluate their play in every match," Siregar said.

Singgih was a regular advisor of national shuttlers but quit after the Sudirman Cup world mixed team championships and the World Championships in Glasgow last May.

"The shuttlers must not underestimate the need of analyzing their performance in each match. They and their coaches must take notes on the match," Siregar said.

He said the association would also ask for help from nutritionists and sports experts from the National Sports Council's sports science center.

He said the failure at the All England championships would not affect Indonesia's bid to retain both the Thomas and Uber cups in Hong Kong from May 15 to May 24.

"We're underdogs at the championships, but we'll take advantage of this status. We're eying the Thomas and Uber cups, instead of the All England," he said.

Indonesia won both the world championship trophies in 1994 and 1996, although it was considered an underdog at those events as well.

Siregar said PBSI would announce its team members for the biennial world team events after the Swiss Open, which takes place this week. (yan)