Indonesian squash dreams for the world
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Ask someone about squash and the probability of him or her knowing about the sport would be very small. Unlike tennis, taken as a comparative example, squash has yet to reach, say, the level of regencies. Even at a provincial level, people do not know much about the sport.
Although squash is believed to have been first introduced to Indonesia as early as the 1940s, tournaments were not organized here until the 1980s. Squash events were not formally organized until after 1993, when the Indonesia Squash Association (PSI) was established.
"We are still very young and little can be done in the space of just eight years," Johanes Karsan, PSI's executive director, told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday while attending the Bastaman & Partners Open Squash Championship.
Still a fledgling association, PSI has branches in only 13 of Indonesia's 32 provinces and less than 2,000 players.
In an attempt to promote the sport nationwide, PSI admits to being impeded by the image that squash is an elite sport only enjoyed in exclusive hotels.
Squash centers are still scarce and taking it up as routine exercise for a certain segment of society would certainly prove too expensive.
Not yet being very popular, the development of squash has subsequently suffered due to the fact that business entities only provide limited sponsorship opportunities.
Players have yet to be provided with the certainty of being able to earn a living from playing squash, though they are confident about the prospect.
"I'm still doubtful that people will play squash at the moment for a living, but I'm confident about the future, provided that PSI is serious in handling the business," Nuryanto, Indonesia's number one player, said.
PSI seems to do everything itself and the government appears to show little interest.
"It's a different case when we talk about our neighbor Malaysia. With full support from the government by building many centers, squash has reached the international level and is no comparison for Indonesia," says Bambang Gatot Subroto, PSI's official in charge of development.
With all the shortcomings, which must be a daunting task to overcome, PSI dreams of cracking into the international arena.
"We are vying for the world championships," Karsan said, his voice low but expressing determination.
"We might need ten years," he said when asked about the period they would require to realize the dream.
"We possess potential. Look, squash is in nature not impeded by the physical build of the players. In basketball, don't ever dream of challenging the Dream Team, because we have physical differences that basketball does not tolerate," he said.
"We just need to train for agility, speed and toughness. And that can be polished through scores of high-standard tournaments," he said.
Karsan said that PSI would strive to tackle those obstacles and equip themselves with a thoroughly considered plan to send promising athletes abroad through a sponsorship program.
"PSI looks to be struggling in promoting squash. We lend it a helping hand by giving the players an opportunity to improve their skills," Syarif Bastaman, from legal firm Bastaman & Partners, said.
At home, PSI plans to hold six tournaments in 2002. Despite being far from an ideal number of events, it will be an improvement on the four tournaments held this year.