Indonesia losing ground in badminton competition
JAKARTA (JP): A new poll has revealed that Indonesians believe the nation's badminton charm is on the decline following major flops in this year's Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Nearly 60 percent of 201 respondents randomly surveyed by the Jakarta monthly sports magazine Raket last week believed that Indonesia's disappointing performance in Atlanta augurs a further setback, although optimism of a revival remains.
The poll results were presented during yesterday's "Preparing for the 2000 Olympics" discussion, staged by Raket at the Kompas building in Jl. Palmerah Selatan, Central Jakarta.
Indonesia brought home one gold, one silver and two bronze medals from Atlanta. This was down from the two golds, two silvers one bronze achieved by Indonesia in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The poll found that 43 percent of respondents thought an insufficient training program and the dependence on veteran shuttlers was responsible for Indonesia's Olympic setback.
Another 36 percent blamed the Badminton Association of Indonesia for failing to anticipate the progress made by its rivals. The remaining respondents said that Indonesian shuttlers did not have enough preparation.
When asked whether they thought Indonesia had a chance to win gold in Sydney, 40 percent answered "no", saying that Indonesia has a dearth of talented shuttlers to fill the shoes of its current players.
"The current shuttlers are no longer reliable" and "Indonesia must be aware of other countries" were picked as the second and the third reasons.
The remaining 60 percent expressed guarded optimism that Indonesian shuttlers will return home with gold medals in Sydney, most likely in the men's doubles.
Atlanta Olympics' gold medal-winning team of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky top the list of favorites with 58 votes, while the juniors Tony Gunawan and Rudy Wijaya received 28 votes.
Fewer talented figures were identified in the women's singles, with 39 respondents choosing Olympic silver medalist Mia Audina as candidate for the gold medal. Indonesia's number one, Susi Susanti, received only 18 votes.
Hopes of winning the men's singles crown appear to rest on Hariyanto Arbi, the reigning world champion who is yet to win a major title this season. He received 15 votes.
A speaker at the discussion, sociologist Fritz Simanjuntak, who conducted his own survey, predicted that Hariyanto would meet China's rising star Sun Jun in the 2000 Olympics men's singles final. (yan)