PBSI urged to work hard to reclaim Sudirman Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Former chairman of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) Soerjadi urged PBSI on Saturday to work harder to recapture the Sudirman Cup.

The biennial event will be staged from June 28 until May 3 at the San Pablo Stadium in Seville, Spain, followed by the World Championships individual event from May 4 until May 10.

"Indonesia still has plenty of good players to win the cup but PBSI must work harder considering its current condition," he said at the sidelines of the ceremony to mark PBSI's 50th anniversary at the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

"We still have strong players competing in the men's division, which will play an important role in securing the cup. Although the women's division is rather weak, we must make best use of them," he added.

Also present were former chairman Try Soetrisno, the National Sports Council chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar and also former shuttlers and local administration leaders.

Try, a former Indonesian vice president, also expected the Indonesian squad would bring home the Sudirman Cup.

"I haven't followed badminton lately but it will be a great honor as the cup bears the name of former PBSI chairman Sudirman," he said.

Indonesia only managed to win the Cup in 1989.

Soerjadi, however, criticized PBSI for selecting a theme for the anniversary which aimed to win the cup after being inspired from the golden anniversary spirit.

"The target has been set too high as it is impossible to reach good results with little preparation despite having good shuttlers. Officials and athletes must unite in their efforts to reach the objective," he added.

During Soerjadi's tenure from 1993 to 1997, Indonesian shuttlers also failed to grab the Sudirman Cup. He, however, managed to unite the men's team to win the Thomas Cup and the women's team to achieve the Uber Cup in 1994 in Jakarta and in 1995 in Hong Kong.

Criticism had been addressed to PBSI on the national team's preparation for the event as it did not set any ambitious target to motivate players. The current chairman, Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, announced in January that Indonesia was only looking to reach the semifinals.

PBSI then corrected Subagyo's statement, saying that it expected the shuttlers to win the cup.

Later on, Subagyo implicitly requested Indonesian shuttlers to bring Sudirman Cup home after he asked for everyone's blessing.

Speaking on the latest controversy involving top men's shuttler Taufik Hidayat, Subagyo said he would let Taufik leave the center as he wished.

"It is up to Taufik whether he wants to stay or to leave. But I will be disappointed if he decides to leave," he said.

AFP news agency reported on Tuesday that Taufik was considering leaving the country if PBSI rejected his current coach Mulyo Handoyo after the World Championships in Seville, Spain.

Taufik himself denied the report saying it was inconceivable that he would leave the country.

Commenting on the controversy, Try said that both athletes and officials should restrain themselves from intimidating PBSI, saying it would only hurt PBSI as a whole.

"We should try to work as a system and scrap being dependent on any one person which will only hurt the system in the end," he said. (nvn)