Ironsides vital for Thomas, Uber Cups

JAKARTA (JP): National selectors will weed out those who crack under pressure in their picks for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup badminton team championship finals in Hong Kong in May.

Athlete development director of the Badminton Association of Indonesia, Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, said yesterday players displaying fighting spirit and iron nerves were desperately needed because nontechnical skills were the pivotal factor in the championships.

"Of course, the latest world rankings will determine a player's entry to the team, but the Thomas and Uber Cups are a matter of spirit rather than outright winners. We prefer players who always manage to emerge from crises," Siregar said.

The association will announce tentative lineups of 12 players in each event either today or tomorrow, he added.

The events -- the Thomas for men and Uber for women -- are considered the most prestigious team competitions in the sport. Indonesia is the defending champion in both.

Siregar said the double blow of poor Indonesian showings in the recent All England and Swiss Open did not augur badly for the team competitions.

"The All England defeat had been predicted because we did not expect our players' performance to peak at the tournament.

"We have set Thomas Cup and Uber Cup victories as our major target this year. Therefore, it's impossible based on scientific analysis for us to make our players perform their best in two events held within a very close time range."

He said the training program for the championships was zeroing in on nerve tests.

"We do, for example, observe how a player comes back from a huge deficit or how he or she plays a deciding rubber. These require an extra fighting spirit."

Separately, former Thomas Cupper Hermawan Susanto warned the association against favoritism in selecting players for the team championships.

"Coaches should not recommend certain players merely based on seniority, but instead on both physical and mental readiness," said Hermawan, who left the elite national team last month.

Hermawan, fifth in the world men's singles ranking last year, also recommended that coaches should improve their discipline and fairness if they wished players to perform well. (emf/amd)