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)