Living in foreign countries brings maturity: Shuttler Agus

JAKARTA (JP): As one of the world's badminton powerhouses, Indonesia has proven its capability of producing many talents of international standard.

But the competition in the country has been very tough and forced some of the badminton proteges -- groomed in the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta -- to resign for failing to survive the rivalry.

Fung Permadi, who is now playing for China Taipei, is one example. He reached last year's World Championships final in Copenhagen.

Agus Hariyanto followed in Fung's footsteps in 1998 when he found there was no place for him in Cipayung. But unlike Fung, Agus opted for Hong Kong.

Friday's defeat to home favorite Taufik Hidayat in the Sanyo Indonesia Open quarterfinals did not frustrate Agus, who drew spectators' applause when playing.

"I always want to beat Indonesian players every time I meet them in international tournaments. I'm still an Indonesian but I have to be professional as now I'm playing for Hong Kong," he said.

Agus, who still holds the Jaya Raya badminton club membership card, joined the national center in 1995 before quitting in 1998.

"I resigned because I couldn't cope with the tough competition at the center. I played for Hong Kong for one and a half years before they allowed me to compete for the country in November."

Agus said his key to success in surviving the tough world of badminton is hard work.

"I came to Hong Kong only as a sparring player but I managed to persuade the coach and I proved that I'm good enough to play in big tournaments."

Like other Indonesian players, who seek a better life abroad, Agus admits that living alone in another country has encouraged him to be more independent and mature.

"I think I'm mentally more matured because I have to take care of everything, although in Hong Kong I'm lucky to live in the national team dormitory which is separated from the Hong Kong natives dorm. They said it's to avoid the jealousy from the Hong Kong natives."

"When playing for Indonesia, I had the burden of wanting to keep winning in all tournaments I competed in. It made me tense."

But Agus declined to mention his contract figure with the Hong Kong national team. "It's a secret," he smiled. (yan)