Indonesian breathes fire into Welsh dragon

Indonesian breathes fire into Welsh dragon

Suzana Sava, Reuters, London

Indonesia's Irwansyah says he is determined to push Welsh
badminton up the rankings - and become world champion himself.
The 27-year-old, like compatriot and current world titleholder
Hendrawan, is known generally by just one name.

He blitzed his way to the Welsh Open title in the beginning of
December to claim his third title of the season and jump up the
world rankings from 76 into the top 30.

The good news for Welsh badminton is that he is ready to play
for his adoptive country.

"I want to help badminton in Wales," Irwansyah told Reuters.
"I want Wales to go to a high ranking and everybody in the world
to see that Wales is training good players."

Irwansyah has been living and training at the Welsh Institute
of Sport complex in Cardiff since March and loves his new life.
"They are nice people. They have always helped me with everything
that I did," Irwansyah said.

The Indonesian was recovering after back and knees operations,
which took him out of his country's national team and top world
rankings when the Welsh Sports Council asked him to be a sparring
partner for home-grown stars Richard Vaughan and Kelly Morgan.

Irwansyah's contract required him to play eight tournaments
worldwide - he has won three, the Welsh, the Scottish and
Norwegian opens and made it to the final of the Irish Open.

Wales national coach Chris Rees said the Indonesian's
contribution had been so important that he wanted him to stay
beyond his agreed departure date of July this year.

"His presence is invaluable really," Rees said, explaining
that Vaughan and Morgan no longer needed to move to other
countries -- such as badminton-strong Denmark -- to get good
training and sparring partners.

"That has a knock-on effect then on the younger players, who
are now watching world class badminton in our squad sessions,
which is unbelievable really considering how small (a nation) we
are."

The Indonesian says he is ready to shift to the Welsh Dragon
and becomes eligible to do so in March when he fulfills
International Badminton Federation residency requirements.

This means he could go to the European championships, hosted
by Sweden in April, as a genuine medal prospect along with Morgan
and Vaughan.

But Irwansyah will not be able to compete at the Commonwealth
Games where competitors must have lived in their chosen country
for three years out of the five before the event.

Rees said: "I think that his contribution to Welsh badminton
could be massive. As you see, his motivation is to be number one
in the world.

"The thing is to be a champion, you need to train like a
champion and this time we've got maybe three of four players in
Wales that actually train like champions."