Good luck, Wonder Boy

Good luck, Wonder Boy

The nomination of Rudy Hartono Kurniawan as one of the seven
vice presidents of the International Badminton Federation (IBF),
replacing Briton Tom Bacher, is certainly good news for the
Indonesian badminton community.

It is not only proves that the Indonesian "maestro" -- a title
which he acquired after winning seven All England crowns in a row
from 1968 to 1974, and then in 1976 -- still commands respect in
the international badminton community, but even more important
that he will be able to keep alive his country's hope of keeping
badminton on the Olympic Games' agenda of events.

Rudy's nomination, however, has not entirely come without
complications and even elicited a warning from Bacher that "Asia
is trying to dominate" the sport. Bacher, it seems, prefers a
balance to prevail between two dominant continents: Europe and
Asia.

European countries on the one hand believe that they could
just as well break away from the IBF, while Asian countries --
which dominate the sport not only in numbers of winning players
but also in TV coverage and sponsors -- insist on getting more
power to control the organization.

As may be remembered, a similar dispute took place way back in
the 1970s, when badminton was ruled by two organizations: the
World Badminton Federation, which was led by China, and the IBF,
comprising European and several Asian countries.

At that time it was Sudirman, Indonesia's prominent badminton
figure, who helped unite both organizations. By way of
acknowledgement, his name was later perpetuated in the Sudirman
Cup, the top trophy awarded in the IBF mixed team badminton
championships, even though Europe preferred to use the name of
Herbert Scheele, the IBF president of the 1970s.

Meanwhile, it cannot be denied that since badminton was
admitted as a competing sport in the quadrennial Olympic Games,
the sport has become more prestigious and is therefore expected
to draw more sponsors.

The existing scoring system -- 15 points in best-of-three
games -- is now considered to take too long to watch. The absence
of a break during the match has made some sponsors think twice
before agreeing to put their money in tournaments, and for that
reason only a few TV stations find it worthwhile to broadcast the
matches.

This problem has forced the IBF to experiment with new scoring
systems of seven points and nine points in best-of-five games.
Several tryouts have taken place but reactions have been diverse.
European players, who mostly emphasize technical skill and the
beauty of the game, fit better in the new scoring system compared
to their Asian counterparts, whose playing is characterized by
speed and power.

The fact that most badminton spectators are from Asia has also
caused the IBF to divide venues for its four major events: The
Thomas Cup men's team and Uber Cup women's team championships are
staged in Asian countries every even year, while the Sudirman Cup
and the World Championships are hosted by European countries
every odd year.

Naturally, those problems have not eluded the attention of the
International Olympics Committee (IOC), and should the IBF fail
to overcome these problems, badminton's future in the world's
foremost quadrennial event, the Olympic Games, will be in
jeopardy. It is good news that badminton will still feature in
next year's Olympics in Athens. However, nobody can guarantee
what the IOC will decide after that.

Indonesia has a great interest in keeping badminton performed
in the Olympics since it is the only sport, so far, that could
contribute gold medals to the national squad. Ever since
badminton was first contested in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics,
Indonesia has always won the golds. Women's singles Susy Susanti
and men's singles Alan Budikusumah won that initial event,
followed by men's doubles Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in the
1996 Atlanta Olympics and Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan in the
2000 Sydney Olympics.

Rudy, therefore, is expected to contribute something valuable
to the development of badminton -- not only for the sake of the
IBF but for Indonesia as well. Making badminton more interesting
for spectators, attracting more sponsors and popularizing the
sport throughout the world outside Europe and Asia are the three
top priorities that Rudy should work on.

Considering that he was able win eight All England titles, we
have reason to believe that he will also be able to perform his
new job well. Good luck, Wonder Boy.