Junior shuttlers set for SEA Games debut
Junior shuttlers set for SEA Games debut
JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia plans to
field juniors in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei
Darussalam in August.
The association's deputy chief of athletes development, Hadi
Nasri, told reporters on Tuesday that the organization would
bring up the plan in discussion with the National Sports Council
soon.
"It remains an idea but we hope the council will understand.
Our young players lack experience of a team event, while their
world-class compatriots have demonstrated their great
achievements in the Thomas and Uber Cup championships, the Asian
Games and the Olympics," Hadi said.
"We must give our juniors an opportunity to handle a bigger
responsibility and we think the SEA Games is the right moment,"
he added.
Hadi said there was no need to field the likes of 1996
Olympics gold medalists Ricky Ahmad Subagja and Rexy Ronald
Mainaky in an event like the SEA Games.
"The SEA Games is the right arena for our young players to
demonstrate their prowess," he said.
He said Indonesia's top guns would likely miss the Games for
bigger events such as the World Championships and the Sudirman
Cup mixed team championship, both scheduled for May.
Members of the country's badminton elite forces usually play
in eight tournaments a season.
In the 1997 SEA Games here the Indonesian badminton team was
at full strength as it made a clean sweep. Former world number
ones in women's and men's singles, Susi Susanti and Hariyanto
Arbi respectively, Ricky and Rexy, the 1997 world men's doubles
champions Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto and former world top
mixed doubles team of Tri Kusherjanto and Minarti Timur were in
the squad that won all seven gold medals at stake in the sport.
Hadi said that second stringers like Rony Agustinus, Johan
Hadi Kusuma, Irwansyah, Yudi Suprayogi in the men's singles and
Ellen Angelina in the women's singles were expected to fill their
seniors' shoes in the August SEA Games.
The junior players will turn up for the Korean Open and Taipei
Masters this week and next week respectively.
"We plan to send our juniors to as many international events
as possible this year," he said.
He predicted Indonesia's toughest opposition in this year's
SEA Games would come from Malaysia in the men's singles and
doubles and Thailand in the women's singles and men's doubles.
(yan)