Improper training causes injuries to national shuttlers
Improper training causes injuries to national shuttlers
JAKARTA (JP): Flawed training techniques during the
preparations for the 18th Southeast Asian Games have been blamed
for the injuries suffered by four Indonesian badminton players.
Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, a sport observer, told The
Jakarta Post in a telephone interview Monday that coaches now
tend to provide a set training program for all athletes.
"Based on my experience, every player should have an
individual, special training program," said Siregar, a former
secretary-general of the National Sports Council and head of
research and development at the Badminton Association of
Indonesia.
Indonesia's top women's singles Susi Susanti and Mia Audina,
men's singles Hermawan Susanto and men's doubles specialist Ricky
Subagja crashed out of recent tournaments because of injury.
While Susi, Hermawan and Ricky will be fit to compete in the
SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Mia is undergoing intensive
physiotherapy.
Siregar said he was concerned about such poor training
conditions.
"Look at Mia's case. An improper training program forced her
to make a unusual movement during a game," Siregar said. Mia is
known for hitting the shuttlecock from difficult angles.
"It was good at the beginning because her rivals couldn't
predict where she directed her strokes. But this should be
normalized sooner or later," Siregar said.
Mia injured her thigh during her group match against Chinese
Wang Chen in the World Grand Prix Final in Singapore last
Thursday. She gave up on match point.
The badminton association selected Lydia Djaelawidjaja to
replace Mia in the SEA Games. Lydia should be seeded second
behind Susi.
Siregar said that athletes suffering back and knee injuries
need a long rest to recover.
"Sometimes coaches aren't patient," he said, "This is the
problem with Indonesian coaches. They should not force their
injured players to get into the arena before they are fully
recovered."
Meanwhile, Icuk Sugiarto, a former Indonesian top shuttler,
said players who force themselves to make difficult retrievals
are susceptible to injuries.
"Many of our players often do what they shouldn't do," Icuk,
1985 world champion, said.
Icuk said that despite the many injuries, Indonesia still has
a good chance of sweeping all seven gold medals in the SEA Games
badminton competition.
He insisted Indonesia should pay more attention to the men's
doubles. World champions Ricky and Rexy Mainaky are expected to
meet World Grand Prix Final winners Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim
Hock of Malaysia in the final.
"For male singles, Malaysian Rashid Sidek is the toughest
rival, but as far as I see he is not as consistent as our
players," Icuk said. (05)