PBSI brushes aside allegation of favoritism in shuttlers' selection

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) denied on Friday any bias in the selection process of athletes for the upcoming World Junior Championship.

Icuk Sugiarto, who is PBSI's head of development affairs, said selections were made based on ranking.

"I have no hidden interest in the decision. The nation's interest comes second to none," the 1983 world champion said, here on Friday.

He was accompanied by PBSI secretary-general M.F. Siregar and spokesman Dedi "Miing" Gumelar.

The world championship, which is slated for Oct. 21 to Oct. 30 in Canada, will see team competitions followed by individual matches.

The team competition will comprise a singles match for boys and girls, one doubles for boys and singles and mixed doubles.

The PBSI has chosen six boys: Tommy Sugiarto of Pelita Bakrie, Ahmad Rivai (Jaya Raya), I Made Agung (Tangkas Bogasari), Markus Wijanu, Ari Yuli Wahyu and Mohammad Rizal from the national training center.

The six girls are Yuan Kartika (Tangkas Bogasari), Wiwis (Djarum Kudus), Nintya Kristin (Jaya Raya) and national training center members Fransisca Ratnasari, Greysia Polii and Heni Budiman.

The selection of the players recently aroused the suspicion of Jacob Rusdiyanto, the head of the East Java chapter, that favoritism and primordialism had contributed to the selection.

The allegation was also directed at the fact that Icuk picked his son Tommy for the team.

But Icuk countered the allegation, saying that Tommy deserved inclusion as he is ranked first, based on the players' performances in four junior tournaments this year.

The four tournaments were the Sangkuriang tournament, Jakarta Open, Milo Junior Open and Asian Student Championship.

Based on the PBSI's scoring system, Tommy collected a total of 1,224 points to stay at the top of the singles ranking, followed by Fauzi Adnan of Suryanaga Gudang Garam (SGG) from East Java with 702, and Hendri W, also from SGG, with 702.

Ahmad Rivai is ranked fourth with 594 points and Stenny Kusuma fifth with 558 points.

The doubles rankings put Rivai and Ali Rasmara on top with a total of 1,062 points, followed by I Made Agung and Aditya with 918 points and Linga and Antok of Djarum Kudus with 864 points.

Citing China and South Korea as hot contenders, Icuk expected the Indonesian team to reach the semifinals at the championship.

For the individual competition, Icuk did not voice great expectations, saying he would simply encourage them to put in their best against the world's top players.