Future on the line as opefuls seek place at Cipayung

Future on the line as opefuls seek place at Cipayung

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Standing a diminutive 1.65 meters, Alamsyah has already made
his mark as the second ranked men's singles player outside of the
national training center.

Yet the 20 year old from Tangkas Bogasari club knows it will
be a tall order to move up a level to gain a place among the
country's big boys at the training center in Cipayung, East
Jakarta.

"I hope I can win one of the slots available for the men's
singles," he said on Thursday.

He knows that the highly competitive environment of the center
is the best place to hone his skills and work to become an
international caliber player.

"Once we are in the national training center, we need to prove
our quality so that we will have a chance to participate in
international tournaments," he said.

National trials, held from Feb. 24-March 2, has 56 young
shuttlers playing for spots in the men's (above 19) and boys'
singles, women's and girls' singles, men's and women's doubles,
and mixed doubles categories.

The selection is considered critical for producing future
champions and to beef up Cipayung's ranks amid a dearth of top
players.

Among the men, there are Taufik Hidayat and Soni Dwi Kuncoro
in the men's singles; the men's doubles pairs of Luluk
Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto and Flandi
Limpele/Eng; and Hian and Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir in mixed
doubles.

There is little to offer in women's singles and doubles, with
no players in the top ranks.

The head of development affairs for the Indonesian Badminton
Association (PBSI), Icuk Sugiarto, said PBSI would choose six
shuttlers in men's and boys' singles, four in women's and girls'
singles, two each in men's doubles and women's doubles.

In his age group, Alamsyah is competing against five others,
including top ranked junior Andre Kurniawan from Djarum Kudus,
Central Java.

It will be a second chance at stardom for Andre, who won the
singles title at the National Club Championship in Yogyakarta
last month.

He was called up to the center in 2003, but let go last year,
apparently due to less than satisfactory results.

Another hopeful is Tommy Sugiarto, the 16-year-old son of 1983
World Champion Icuk.

"It's my first experience to participate the national
selection, but I will do my best to win it," said the winner of
the 2004 ASEAN junior championship and runner up of the 2004 Milo
Junior Indonesia Open.

PBSI's talent scouting official Imelda Wiguna said invitations
for national selection were given based on achievements and
prospects for the future.

"Seventy-five percent of the hopefuls are invited because of
their good achievement in 2004, while the remaining 25 percent
are players found through PBSI talent scouting."

Variella P in the girls' division and Bandar Sigit Pamungkas
in the boys, both from Djarum club, are examples of players found
through talent scouting.

"We actually found four to six talented players in boys' and
girls' singles respectively, besides those who have good national
rankings."

Imelda warned that making it to Cipayung was no guarantee of
reaching the top. Players must work hard to improve, or face the
consequences.

"If they make no progress, they must take part in the
promotion and relegation system in the following year," she said.

Andre is one player who knows that hard reality for himself.