New badminton chief to take on daunting tasks, former official says
New badminton chief to take on daunting tasks, former official says
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Herculean tasks await the new Badminton Association of
Indonesia (PBSI) chairperson as he or she will have less than
three months to select solid teams to defend the Thomas Cup and
win the Uber Cup, a former national team manager says.
Lufti Hamid, the manager of the Indonesian squad that won both
the Thomas Cup men's team and Uber Cup women's team championships
in 1994 and 1996, said that whoever chairs the badminton body
should make victories at both events next year the top priority.
"It does not really matter who the chairman will be because he
or she will have to work very hard. Otherwise, people will
subject us to harsh criticism," said Lutfi, who also chairs the
West Java chapter of the PBSI.
Indonesia has qualified for the Thomas Cup finals as the
defending champion but has to pass the qualifying round for the
Uber Cup next February in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The finals
will take place in May, but the venue remains undecided.
Lutfi said the West Java chapter preferred for practical
reasons businessman Chairul Tanjung rather than Justian
Suhandinata as the new PBSI chairman to replace incumbent Subagyo
Hadisiswoyo.
"We know both the candidates are committed to badminton but we
need someone from the younger generation to lead the PBSI. And I
believe Chairul is the right person," he said.
"On the other hand, nobody doubts Justian's achievements in
badminton. He has devoted most of his life to badminton, but we
need Justian's services more in the International Badminton
Federation (IBF) or the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) to
strengthen our position."
Currently Justian is the IBF vice president and will end his
tenure next year.
The election of the new PBSI chairman will be held during the
organizations congress to be held from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4 at the
Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta.
PBSI's Jakarta chapter backs Justian, who has also received
support from Lampung and several other chapters. Meanwhile,
Chairul has been nominated by, among others, the West Java and
East Java chapters.
Lutfi said the new PBSI executive board will have to revive
and organize more interclub tournaments as part of the effort to
scout out talent.
"The PBSI once had 24 badminton training camps all over the
country but now only a few of them survive. The main problem is
they did not have strong financial support," he explained.
He said Chairul, who owns a private bank and a soon-to-air TV
channel, is the right person to help the PBSI find a solution to
the financial shortfalls facing the badminton camps.
Another difficult task for the new chairman, according to
Lutfi, is how to prevent a further exodus of shuttlers. So far,
nine shuttlers have quit the national badminton center in
Cipayung, East Jakarta, for reasons ranging from school to
financial commitments.
Women's singles player Ellen Angelina was the first to resign,
saying she wanted to continue her education but ended up signing
a contract with Gosen. She was followed by doubles shuttlers
Elysa Nathanael, Carmelita and Indarti Issoliana. Carmelita
reportedly plays for Sweden now.
Indonesia's strength was further depleted when the Indonesian
men's doubles pair of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian also resigned,
followed by Sydney 2000 Olympics men's doubles gold medalist Tony
Gunawan.
Women's singles player Yuli Marfuah and top men's singles
player Taufik Hidayat have been the latest to deal the PBSI a big
blow through their withdrawals.
"The new executive board must find ways to prevent the trend
from recurring, If we fail, we will have to rebuild everything
from square one," Lutfi said,