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,