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;JP;IWA; ANPAs..r.. JP/21/T00 Christian Hadinata brings his father spirit into badminton court JP/10/CHRIS

Christian keeps father's example close to his heart

Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

After Icuk Sugiarto's sudden, angry exit as manager of the Sudirman Cup team in mid-April, a mere three weeks before the event, a calming influence was dearly needed as his replacement.

It could have been a mission impossible to keep the team together, but men's doubles coach Christian Hadinata, dependable and level-headed as ever, was called up to take the reins.

He stated a conservative target of reaching the semifinals in the mixed team championships in Beijing; as it turned out, Indonesia made it all the way to the final, losing to the almighty host side.

The soft-spoken 55 year old with the shock of gray hair was always ready to give a comment to the media, even after his team's loss in the final. Yet he was just as quick to let his players and other officials get credit for the team's successes.

It may have something to do with his playing days, when he shared the spotlight with different partners, including learning to deal with their different personalities.

And it also owes something to a piece of advice from his father when he was growing up in modest circumstances.

"My father was a teacher. He taught me that in life we must be able to adapt to any circumstances because not all of our desires will be fulfilled," said Christian, who was born in Purwokerto, Central Java.

He brought that principle to the court.

"When I played doubles, I couldn't simply insist that my partner followed what I wanted, but I also had to listen to them.

"Even when my partner played badly, I had to be able to calm him down and encourage him to play better instead of getting angry."

Christian, who first played for Mutiara Bandung club, came to international prominence in 1972 when he won the All England title with Ade Chandra, the first Indonesian men's doubles pair to achieve the feat.

They retained their title the following year, and Christian also was successful in mixed doubles competition. He won the All England mixed doubles title with Imelda Wiguna in 1979, and accomplished a rare double crown of the men's doubles (with Ade) and the mixed (with Imelda) at the World Championship in Jakarta in 1980.

Two years later, at the Asian Games in New Delhi, he again took the men's doubles title, this time with Icuk, and the mixed doubles, with younger playing partner Ivana Lie. At the age of 35, he teamed with Ivana to win the 1985 Alba World Cup.

Playing with different players, including mainly singles players like Icuk, Ivana and Lim Swie King, required adjusting to their personalities and playing styles ("... singles players have bigger egos," he said).

"That is the challenge and the art of playing doubles. But I managed to do it as I learned from my father's teaching."

He retired in 1988 when he was 38, and then embarked on his second career as a men's doubles coach, grooming others to be the best that they can be.

When Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan won a silver in badminton's Olympic debut in Barcelona in 1992, Christian finally felt that his efforts were bringing success.

"That was the critical moment for me as a coach. After I successfully coached Eddy and Gunawan, I was convinced that I could do my job as a coach," said Christian, who is now also a coach with Djarum Kudus club.

Four years later, Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky went one better in Atlanta.

His father's words became even more meaningful in his coaching..

"Coaching has the same spirit as teaching. This is something that I inherited from my father," he said.

Like a teacher who must nurture students to master a difficult subject, a coach of a doubles team must be able to unite two different personalities and carefully mold them into a great doubles pair.

"For example, Ricky (who is calm), and Rexy (known to be more emotional) are two contradictory personalities. But on the badminton court they became a great pair who was very difficult to beat."

He has built the men's doubles program into one of the center's strongest, with a string of top teams: Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto are currently ranked second in the world, veterans Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto fifth, Markis Kidho/Hendra Setiawan are ninth and Flandi Limpele/Eng Hian still rank in the top 20.

"Christian taught me to be disciplined in training and practice hard to become a champion," Ricky said of his mentor.

"He was also able to share with us how he became a great champion."

Christian can also be tough when he needs to be, Ricky said. He remembers trying to get out of a training session because he was tired.

"Instead of letting me go, we all ended up at the Senayan track, with Christian ordering us to do 25 laps."

Once the director of the National Training Center, Christian realizes that coaching is his field. Unlike some former sports stars, he would not think of going into business endeavors.

"I have no talent for business," he said. "I don't have the character required to be a businessman. If I tried, I would soon go bankrupt."