Next time will be better

Next time will be better

The 2004 Thomas and Uber Cup international badminton
championships concluded on Sunday with China emerging as the
winner of both coveted cups. It is an extraordinary achievement
for China, scoring four consecutive victories in the Uber Cup,
with nine wins in total.

China's success in the Thomas Cup tourney has been expected
since it last won the trophy in 1990. With another major trophy,
the Sudirman Cup for mixed teams, already in its hands, this
newest victory establishes China as the world's foremost
superpower in badminton .

This is not surprising. It is the fruit of a combination of a
continuous and consistent training program, careful observation
in talent scouting, and a guarantee of the athletes' future once
they are past their heyday.

In contrast to China, Indonesia barely meets the above three
prerequisites. We have a National Badminton Center to groom
athletes, but the talent scouting process has yet to be
perfected. Conflicts of interest among clubs and the Badminton
Association of Indonesia's (PBSI) provincial branches remain
strong and sometimes influence the selection of athletes required
to join the training center. The uncertainty of the athletes'
futures after retirement has discouraged many youngsters to pick
sport as a career.

Indonesia's defeat in both events has been predicted. Without
any strong players in both the men's and women's teams, it would
have been a miracle if we had retained the Thomas Cup for the
sixth consecutive time, as was expected earlier, not to mention
winning back the Uber Cup.

However, there is no need to blame either the players or the
coaches for the defeat. Instead, credit must be given to them for
fighting hard in the event. And, the decision to deploy young and
upcoming shuttlers must be fully supported.

The strong fighting spirit shown by Adrianti Firdasari, of the
war-torn Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, is a good sign that
all she -- and other girls in the team -- need is more
opportunities to prove themselves in international tournaments.
PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung's statement that he would not
deploy players to big tournaments, but only to one-star to
three-star events, was the right decision. It is important to
boost those young athletes' morale in events where they have a
chance to win. Once they have managed to show a constant
performance, as is expected, they can be sent to bigger
tournaments.

In the men's sector, Sony Dwi Kuncoro proved his reliability
as a first singles. Despite his defeat to Lin Dan of China in the
group, Sony managed to overcame Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia in
the quarterfinals, and even Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark in
the semifinals.

Taufik Hidayat, who was expected to be the team's leader, has
shown a constant performance. Newcomer Simon Santoso also showed
his potential, although he had to bow out to 1997 World Champion
Peter Rasmussen of Denmark, thus sending Indonesia out of the
event.

PBSI must work hard to groom the shuttlers and recruit more
young talents so that they can eventually emerge as champions.
The hard work is necessary, considering the upcoming Athens
Olympics in August, and other major tournaments that lie ahead.

The biennial event itself was considered a success despite
some problems prior to the championships, including a boycott
threat from seven television stations against TransTV, that held
the right to broadcast the event.

No less an important development: Indonesian spectators
displayed much more civilized behavior and higher sportsmanship
than at the last Thomas Cup event, which the country hosted 10
years ago. And this time, they consistently supported the
national shuttlers, irrespective of whether they were leading or
trailing their opponents.

Even when the national Uber Cup team lost, spectators
applauded and banged boom twins (bolster-like balloons) to show
their appreciation of the game, as well as to honor the winners.

When Indonesia lost to Denmark in the decisive semifinals,
they did not throw things at last singles player, Simon Santoso
but gave him their support instead. Even when the Indonesian
squad quickly returned to the players' changing room, the
spectators continued to applaud, showing their appreciation of
Denmark's victory also.

The Thomas and Uber Cup championships are over. Some players
went home with smiles on their faces; others had to swallow the
bitter pill of defeat. However, we have all learned a valuable
lesson from this event and hope that next time it will be better
still.