No big tragedy

No big tragedy

In the recent All England badminton tournament Indonesia succeeded in taking home only one title after the victory of our men's double team of Ricky Subagja/Rexi Mainaki over their compatriots Denny Kantono/Antonius. This has raised a disturbing question: Has Indonesia's domination in world badminton come to an end?

From the perspective of sports, defeats are normal. This is all the more true where only two possibilities are open -- to lose or to win -- unlike for example in soccer, where draws are possible. If the defeat suffered by Susi Susanti and Hariyanto Arbi caused a shock, it is merely because they control technical qualities that are in reality far above those of their opponents.

In world tennis, at the time when Monica Seles was active and was dominating every tournament, fears were once expressed. The world tennis association racked its brains to find ways to make sure that the public would continue to be attracted to tennis and that it would not become bored at seeing Monica Seles coming out the champion at every tournament.

As in tennis, in badminton, too, growth would be stunted if Susi and Haryanto emerge as champions every time. Also, it would be injurious if Indonesia continued to dominate the English tournament which was conceived as long ago as in 1863. This is all the more true since it must be admitted that a good sense of entertainment is still lacking among us.

-- Bernas, Yogyakarta