New coach Verawaty vows to impose more discipline
New coach Verawaty vows to impose more discipline
JAKARTA (JP): A slight glimmer of hope for improved
international achievement has appeared in women's singles
badminton as new coach Verawaty Fadjrin expressed her goal of
boosting players' motivation and discipline.
Vera, as she is better known, underlined lack of self-
motivation and discipline as being the cause of Indonesia's poor
record of achievement in the game over the last three years.
"Firstly, I must up their self-motivation as they are the
chosen ones out of millions of Indonesian women," she told
reporters after coaching for the first time at the Indonesian
Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Monday.
"They must put their best foot forward and play all out in
every international event."
Verawaty paid special attention to national women's singles
Lidya Djaelawidjaja, Ellen Angelina, Yuli Marfuah and Atu
Rosalina.
Two other shuttlers, Chindana Hartono and Ninik Masrikah, are
temporarily unavailable due to injury.
"They're the best shuttlers we have and they have no opponents
of equal stature. They can't get any competition here," Vera
said.
"I was in the top spot and know how it felt to be without any
competitors. They must be able to boost their motivation from the
inside."
Since former world number one Susy Susanti quit the center and
the country's second best Mia Audina moved to the Netherlands
following her husband, Indonesian women's shuttlers have
performed poorly in international events.
In 1999, only Chindana managed to earn a Southeast Asian Games
gold medal and Lidya took the Indonesian Open title. Last year,
none of the Indonesian women's singles earned any titles in the
Grand Prix series sanctioned by the International Badminton
Federation (IBF).
Discipline
Vera also said that women's shuttlers must improve their
discipline during training.
"Shuttlers must also play more seriously even during training
with teammates. They must visualize it as a real match. They have
to develop an attitude of not quitting easily, whether in
training or in real matches."
The 1980 world champion cited an example where shuttlers did
not seriously train during stroke sessions.
"They don't send proper shots because they don't understand
the benefit of having practice partners," she said.
"From now on, I want my shuttlers to be more disciplined. They
have to be on time for training even if there's nobody else on
court. They can start by warming up."
Vera also said she would expel any indisciplined shuttlers.
"The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has to be
stricter as regards discipline. This is an important factor if
they want to do better."
"I will personally kick any lazy and irresponsible shuttlers
out of the camp. It's better to admit more juniors than having
seniors who refuse to improve themselves.
With the nearest tournament being the upcoming All England,
Vera said that her expectations were not high given that there
had only been three weeks of preparation.
"We don't have enough preparation this time. It's really
important for the players to play all out. I only expect them to
obtain similar results to last year.
Lidya told The Jakarta Post that she was aiming at improving
her performance in the event.
"I aim to reach the quarterfinals. I lost to Gong Zhichao of
China in last year's second round. As the world number eight, I
expect to get a good draw and not meet any strong shuttlers in
the early stages."
Indonesia's number three Yuli Marfuah did not expect much
given her limited preparations.
"I'm only aiming to avoid being beaten in the early rounds,
but it will all depend on the draw." (nvn)