Badminton still lobbying for more SEA Games players
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)