Junior shuttlers to dominate RI Sudirman Cup team

JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia indicated yesterday that it would send a number of junior shuttlers to the Sudirman Cup and World Championships, both in Glasgow, Scotland, in May.

Sumaryono, the association's executive director, said that 60 percent of the 43 candidates for both the championships are juniors.

The final list will be announced after the association receives the world ranking lists from the International Badminton Federation on April 1.

"They are all still candidates. We'll make a decision based on the list from the federation. Not all the senior players will join the squad. Let's wait and see," Sumaryono said.

The move is part of the association's plan to give more chances to junior shuttlers in international events.

"If we only field senior players, when will the young generation get their chance in major international events? We take the risk of losing by featuring the rookies but it will be good experience for them in those kind of events," Sumaryono said.

Indonesia's starlet Mia Audina, newcomers Jeffer Rosobin, finalist of the 1996 World Cup championship, Budi Santoso, the 1996 Indonesian Open finalist, Indra Wijaya, the 1996 Malaysian Open finalist, and rising stars Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto, who won the Chinese Taipei Open recently, are listed among the candidates.

Veterans

However, veteran shuttlers including Joko Suprianto, Alan Budikusuma, Ardy B Wiranata, Hermawan Susanto, Ricky Subagja, Rexy Mainaky, Bambang Suprianto, Susi Susanti, Finarsih and Minarti Timur are also named as candidates.

Meanwhile, Rexy Mainaky, who won the Olympic doubles gold with partner Ricky Subagja, urged the association to decide which was the priority between the Sudirman Cup and the World Championships.

"If the association does not give us any target, we'll get confused because we only have one day's break between the Sudirman Cup and the World Championships," he complained.

Rexy said that if he could choose he would prefer to fight to retain his title in the World Championships, which will be staged from May 26 to June 1, instead of the Sudirman Cup, which is to be staged between May 19 and May 24.

"The association should also tell the public which is its priority," he said.

Citing a precedent, Rexy said that Indonesian shuttlers successfully brought home back the Thomas and Uber Cups in May but failed in the Olympics shortly afterwards.

But Sumaryono disagreed with his opinion, saying that shuttlers are not used to multisport competitions such as the Olympics.

"Remember the 1994 Asian Games where Susi lost to an unseeded player. I think it was because of the multisport format as they are not used to playing in such events," he said.

"The Sudirman Cup is a team event and the World Championships is an individual event. It's hard to predict when our players will reach their peak," he said.

The IBF rules state that only the top 16 shuttlers are allowed to take part in the World Championships.

"We're going to boost our juniors' rankings by sending them to European Grand Prix series events," he said.

The association is to send the juniors to the Sweden Open, the All England Championship and the Switzerland Open to improve their world rankings.

"The juniors will be the country's backbone in the future, hopefully, by the 2000 Olympics in Sydney," Sumaryono said.

"We want to give them a heavier responsibility in team events before then," he added.

"We'll groom them for the next Thomas and Uber Cup championships," Sumaryono said.

Owing to preparations for the SEA Games here in October, Indonesia will skip the U.S. Open slated for September. (yan)