Pelita Jaya pulls out of badminton tournament

Pelita Jaya pulls out of badminton tournament

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Pelita Jaya has pulled out of
the Fourth Ardath Cup national junior badminton championships,
citing "unfair treatment" by the organizing committee.

The last minute withdrawal of the leading Jakarta-based
badminton club came as a great surprise when it was announced
yesterday shortly after the opening ceremony of the annual event
at the Yuwana Mandala sports hall in Denpasar, Bali.

The sudden, unexpected withdrawal was announced by the club's
manager, Icuk Sugiarto, Antara reported.

Icuk, the 1983 world champion, and one of the world's top
players during his heyday in the 1980s, said he was unhappy with
the way the organizing committee treated his club.

"We are the winner of the trophy for the last two years, but
the organizers took us lightly by placing Pelita Jaya as the
fourth seed. Isn't that ridiculous? Being the title holder we
should have been put at the top of the seeding list," Icuk said.

He said no defending champion was ever seeded fourth in any
championship competition anywhere in the world.

Calling the whole process a fiasco, Icuk said he smelled
something fishy in the way the Badminton Association of Indonesia
(PBSI) has organized the tournament.

"I believe some PBSI officials are behind the sham. They
deliberately ganged up against Pelita Jaya as they have personal
vested interests," he said.

The Ardath Cup is a team-event tournament for budding players
who play under the banner of their respective clubs throughout
the country. Having been held for the past 12 years, the event
has produced a lot of internationally acclaimed shuttlers, such
as current world number one Ardy Wiranata, Olympic champion Alan
Budi Kusuma and the current world badminton "queen" Susi Susanti
to mention a few. (bas)