Jakarta Open kicks off with 1,000 shuttlers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Organizers of the Jakarta Open badminton championships have criticized the Indonesian Badminton Association for fielding so few of its players from the national training center in the week- long tournament, which began here on Monday with about 1,000 shuttlers.
The tournament, organized by the Jakarta Badminton Association, has competition classes of U-16, U-19 and Open category with a total of Rp 25 million (US$2,777) in cash prizes up for grabs.
While the number of provinces involved in the tournament has increased, which according to Icuk Sugiarto from the organizing committee is an improvement from last year, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) is said to have failed to comprehend the significance of the tournament.
He said that the tournament should be used as one of the tryout arenas for PBSI's young shuttlers, who are being groomed at the Cipayung Training Center in East Jakarta.
According to the participants' list, the Cipayung camp has fielded around 15 young athletes, which, according to Icuk, is a very lower number and might be an indication of the coaches' unnecessary wariness about defeat.
"It's deplorable that have not fielded all they have. It might be that the coaches could not stand the prospect of their players being defeated.
"This is a good field for the players to try out their skills and good also for the Cipayung management to assess their skills. A loss would give them an opportunity to recognize their faults. It is very alarming amid our badminton players' decline on the international stage," said the 1982 world champion.
Meanwhile, Christian Hadinata, the director of the Cipayung Training Center, said the center could not allow all of its members to participate because it had to ensure that training was not interrupted.
"We have kept behind some players for training. They need to compete in training," Christian told The Jakarta Post when contacted later in the day.
Christian said that PBSI had been grooming around 30 young athletes in Cipayung to take the place of veteran players at a later date.