Christian hopes to find new talent at junior badminton meet

JAKARTA (JP): The training director of the Indonesian Badminton Center, Christian Hadinata, is hopeful the first Milo Junior Indonesia Open next month will produce new stars who will lead Indonesia to future badminton glory.

"I hope the championships will result in our continued domination in the men's singles and doubles. Therefore, there will not be a wide gap between the senior and junior players," he said Friday on the sidelines of the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony. Signing the memorandum were the event's main sponsor, Milo, and event organizer PT Gematama Kreasindo, which has been appointed by the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to stage the event.

"We also hope to find some new talent in women's singles and doubles. This is necessary so PBSI will not suffer a lack of players in these two disciplines."

The championships will be held at Manahan Hall and Bhinneka Hall in Surakarta, Central Java, from June 12 to June 16. The tournament will feature boys' singles, girls' singles, boys' doubles, girls' doubles and mixed doubles events.

Seven countries -- Malaysia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Russia, Canada and host Indonesia -- have confirmed their participation.

The chairwoman of the event organizer, Minarni Soedarjanto, said she expected about 10 countries would compete in the event.

"We have sent invitations to 25 International Badminton Federation (IBF) members. We also hope that badminton powerhouses China and Denmark will send players to the event," said Minarni, who received a surprise birthday cake during the event.

The tournament, which is included on the IBF calendar, will offer US$9,000 in prize money.

"The tournament will be a perfect place for our juniors to test their skills against players from other countries. Due to the weakening of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, it is very difficult for PBSI to send them abroad for tournaments," Minarni, a badminton star in the 1960s, said.

Muhammed Hamza, the vice president of beverages at PT Nestle Indonesia, the producer of Milo, said Milo was committed to a long-term sponsorship of the event.

"However, the support will be based on our evaluation of the first tournament. We hope to support badminton, as Indonesia's most popular sport, for the long term."

PT Nestle Indonesia president director Salvador Pigem said he hoped the Milo Junior Indonesia Open "would extend the glory of Indonesian shuttlers in various events in the future".

The championships will be the first international junior event to take place in Indonesia since the economic crisis hit the country four years ago.

Some of Indonesia's top shuttlers first gained prominence in international junior events. They include 1992 Olympic women's singles champion Susy Susanti, 1992 Olympic men's singles gold medalist Alan Budikusuma, 1993 World Champion Hariyanto Arbi and 1997 men's doubles World Champions Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya.

China's Tan Ju Hong and Huang Hua, and Denmark's Camilla Martin and Peter Gade Christensen also cut their teeth in international junior events. (yan)