Badminton still lobbying for more SEA Games players
JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia is training seven male and seven female shuttlers for the 19th SEA Games, but it is still lobbying for the organizing committee to allow each country to field more shuttlers.
Association chairman Soerjadi said yesterday that the Games organizing committee had yet to say if each country would be allowed to field more than 14 shuttlers at the biennial event, from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19.
"We're training seven male and seven female players. We still hope the organizers will allow each country to field eight male and eight female players but we have to be prepared for the worst," Soerjadi said.
"Asian Badminton Confederation members agreed to send eight male and eight female players but their letter was addressed to the association instead of the organizers. I don't know if the organizers will also agree to it," he said.
All countries are expected to submit registration forms by Sept. 19.
Some countries, including Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore agreed with the confederation's decision to field teams of eight male and eight female players.
Soerjadi said Indonesian shuttlers should be aware of the other countries' strengths because "so far we have never had a clean sweep at the Games".
Indonesian male shuttlers will face a tough challenge from Malaysia and Thailand, but the women shuttlers may not have too many problems winning their events.
"The players must remember that winning the team event is much more important than winning their individual competitions," Soerjadi said.
The association wants a clean sweep in the badminton events this year.
At the last Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, it won six of the seven golds up for grabs.
Soerjadi declined to say which athletes would be in the main squad.
Association official Hadi Nasri said he was worried about the small number of shuttlers allowed.
"It's too risky to have seven players in one team. What if one of them is hurt during the Games?"
The association will send its best players to the Ardath Badminton National Championships in Bandung from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.
About 600 athletes from 27 provinces and world class players have confirmed they will participate in the annual event, which offers Rp 70 million (US$26,415) in cash prizes.
After the championships, Indonesia's best shuttlers will compete in the Chinese and Thai opens.
They will not compete in the Hong Kong Open because the dates conflict with the national championships.
Indra Wijaya, who will compete in three events, said: "It'll be very hard to win in the national championships because all the best shuttlers will be there." (yan)