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.