Mixed doubles seniors concerned for juniors

JAKARTA (JP): After a failure in the All England championships, Indonesia mixed doubles senior players expressed concern on their juniors development specially to compete against strong badminton countries athletes in international events in the future.

Bambang Suprianto and Tri Kusheryanto said the success of grabbing the Olympics mixed doubles silver medal apparently was not good enough to motivate their juniors to prepare themselves taking over the position in national squad.

"It's difficult to have good mixed doubles as most of the players in the section are leftovers from men's doubles and women's doubles," Bambang, who partnered with Minarti Timur, complained after training session at the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, Tuesday.

"I have told my juniors to get prepared to replace us as we're aging but still they fail to cope with the mental pressure in international major events," Tri said.

Tri, who used to partner Minarti, has teamed up with Indarti Issoliana starting this year. They managed to reach the All England quarterfinals and are gearing up for the Japan Open.

"I personally want the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to send me and Indarti to two or three star tournaments to help Indarti grab her first victory. If she can win a tournament, it's much easier to boost her self confidence," Tri said.

Indarti has never won a title since she was scrapped from partner Deyana Lomban in the women's doubles although they managed to reach the world top eight in 1996.

Both Tri and Bambang said PBSI should have sent young pairs to two or three stars more often with a target of grabbing a title and allowing them competing in bigger events to gain more experience.

They also said juniors in the men's and women's doubles should play mixed doubles to help them improve their stamina, gain experience and boost confidence.

"We, the seniors, all experience the moment when we played in both men's and mixed doubles. It's good for us," Bambang said.

However, coach Richard Mainaky said it would not be that easy to ask other doubles to play in mixed.

"Our men's doubles players are fully concentrating on their discipline as they are targeted to always win in all tournaments they compete.

"Besides, it's very difficult to recruit a mixed doubles special player. From the 50 juniors admitted to the center early this year, I can only have one male player.

Richard also complained on his third mixed pair of Agung Wahyu and Emma Ermawati, who bowed out to Bjorn Siegemund and Nicol Pitro of Germany in the All England's first round.

"I still have to boost their motivation in international tournaments. Technically they're very good but they always fail to deal with the pressure on the court.

As a consequence, Richard opted to rest Agung and Emma for the Japan Open early April. Instead, he sends Nova Widhianto and Vita Marissa to accompany Bambang and Minarti and Tri and Indarti.

Richard also turned down the possibility of Minarti to resign mid this year.

"I still need her as she's still the best female player in my section. She may retire if her juniors are ready to replace her. (nvn/yan)