PBSI looks to overhaul player recruitment system
PBSI looks to overhaul player recruitment system
JAKARTA (JP): After Indonesian men's shuttlers brought home
the Thomas Cup by defeating China on May 21, the Badminton
Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has started grooming younger
players to defend the sport's most prestigious team event in two
years time.
PBSI official in charge of athletes development Mangombar
Ferdinand Siregar said on Monday that the Thomas and Uber cups in
Kuala Lumpur from May 11 to May 21 gave a valuable lesson to the
organization to reconsider its promotion, relegation and
recruitment system.
"Other countries, especially China, anticipated our strength
by recruiting young talented shuttlers. If we don't want to be
shut out of the spotlight on the podium, we must work faster and
harder in recruiting young players," he said.
The 10 members of Indonesia's Thomas Cup team are an average
of 25 years or older except for Taufik Hidayat, who will be 19 on
Aug. 10. Most of China's team are younger than 25. China relied
on All England winner Xia Xuanze and Ji Xinpeng in the singles
and Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun in the doubles.
In 2002, Indonesia is expected to be without senior shuttlers
Rexy Mainaky, Ricky Subagja, Hariyanto Arbi and Antonius Budi
Ariantho, who all plan to retire after the Olympic Games in
Sydney in September.
PBSI must prepare Ronny Agustinus, Johan Hadikusuma, Arief
Rosidi and Vidre Wibowo in the singles and Flandy Limpele, Eng
Hian, Halim Heryanto and twins Denny Setiawan and Donny Prasetyo
to reach their top form to win the cup a fifth consecutive time.
Siregar said PBSI plans to recruit 16-year-old girls and 17-
year-old boys in singles to be groomed soon to replace their
elders.
"We can't just depend on the results of national junior
tournaments. PBSI officials in charge of talent scouting must
open their eyes to be able to recruit the right potential
players.
"We have signed an agreement with the government of Germany to
help us decide the parameters in selecting the right players. The
parameters will include the criteria of potential shuttlers on
the basis of their posture, mental and technical skills.
"I have also talked to National Sports Council (KONI)
psychologists to discuss the possibility of testing the juniors'
psychological condition before we decide to admit them. It's
really important to see how they will be able to manage all
barriers during their career."
PBSI will only have 52 shuttlers in its National Badminton
Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, compared to 65 at present.
PBSI has staged an internal promotion-and-relegation selection
to weed out shuttlers with little potential, who would be
returned to their clubs, and to admit younger ones in the center.
Siregar admitted PBSI's problems in realizing its nationwide
branches' vision on the recruitment system because they all
wanted the association to recruit winners from the national
tournaments. However, some of the players were considered too old
to benefit from being placed in the center. (yan)