Justian pledges to promote badminton
Justian pledges to promote badminton
JAKARTA (JP): The International Badminton Federation (IBF)
president candidate Justian Suhandinata of Indonesia said he
would prioritize promoting the sport worldwide, paying particular
attention to America.
"Should I be elected president, I would promote badminton so
that it could gain greater popularity worldwide. I would also try
to increase sponsorship and the amount of prize money for
shuttlers," he told a media conference on Thursday.
"Badminton still has difficulties in gaining popularity in the
United States as it's not widely known. But there are several
players of Asian descent, already active in California," said
Justian, who is the current IBF vice president.
"Across the entire continent, only eastern and southeastern
Asian countries have achieved popular success in badminton. In
Europe, only Scandinavian countries and Great Britain have made
significant achievements."
Justian is running for the position of president against
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and Asian Badminton
Confederation chairman Korn Dabbaransi of Thailand.
He denied accusations that he is launching an aggressive
campaign, "I believe that we have to cooperate with whoever
becomes the president."
"Personally, I believe that I have better qualities for the
position regarding my long service in the sport, whether as a
player or an official," he said.
Despite his optimism, Justian was disappointed that there were
several parties who were trying to block his candidacy, due to
differences in personality, as well as prejudice toward
Indonesia.
"There are several parties questioning the benefits of having
an IBF president from an unstable country. I must admit that
Indonesia is in a bad situation now but I hadn't expected them to
use that in their campaign," Justian said, declining to provide
details on the parties in question.
He also turned down the possibility of rival supporters
practicing money politics to buy other countries' votes.
Speaking on Tangkas' 50th anniversary, Justian said the club
-- which is now sponsored by PT Indofood Sukses Mandiri Bogasari
Flour Mills -- would stage an exhibition match between Tangkas
Bogasari Plus and the Rest of the World after the Indonesian Open
tournament in August.
"We plan to field Taufik Hidayat, Hendrawan, and Marlev
Mainaky in the singles, Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan or Sigit
Budiarto and Ricky Subagja paired with Endra Mulyajaya or Nova
Widhianto in the doubles."
"Their opponents are likely to be Ji Xinpeng of China and
Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark. We have several options for
the third singles of Indian Pullela Gopichand, Roslin Hashim or
Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia. For the doubles, we'll invite
doubles pairs from Korea and England."
However, Justian emphasized that this was only on condition
that the club gets sponsorship first.
The winners will bag US$50,000 while the losers will earn half
of that.
Speaking about the new club's sponsor, Justian said that
Bogasari had signed a three-year deal though he rejected to
mention the figure. The contract took effect on April 1 and will
end on Feb. 28 2004.
Previously, Tangkas was sponsored by Bimantara group for 10
years though that ended in 1997 due to the monetary crisis.
"I can't reveal the sponsorship figure but it's enough to
double our previous budget. We can, for example, double our
coaches' salary," said Justian.
"Roughly, we need some Rp 30 million ($3,000) per month to run
the club. But we also have Rp 1.1 billion of deposit."
Bogasari's senior vice president for human resources and
corporate affairs, Thomas Belang, said Bogasari did not expect
too much from sponsoring the club in terms of financial return.
"It's part of our commitment to be more involved in sport.
We'll feel very proud if Tangkas Bogasari players can make
international achievements as the company will also receive
positive impacts. Let's just say it is part of our marketing
efforts."
Bogasari is also sponsoring next week's U-15 soccer league in
Sidoarjo, East Java. (nvn)