Rexy mulls quitting players' board
JAKARTA (JP): Undisciplined behavior of national squad badminton players has led the shuttlers' board chairman, Rexy Mainaky, and deputy Hendrawan to consider resigning from their positions.
Rexy told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that he and Hendrawan discussed the possibility of quitting.
"We told the shuttlers in Monday's meeting that we would quit the positions and let them pick others. Some players are really difficult to cooperate with and never have time to get together to discuss our problems," said Rexy, a men's doubles specialist who partners Ricky Subagja.
"Some people have complained about our authority to make rules for them and about asking them to follow the rules. They didn't want to be controlled by us.
"Frankly, Hendrawan and I were insulted by their comments. We asked those who made the comments to take over from us."
Rexy said many shuttlers did not realize the responsibility and demands of professionalism as world-class athletes, especially in preparing for the quadrennial Olympic Games in Sydney in September.
"I guess the players only want the board to fight for their rights. But they are not prepared to meet their obligations to the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), the country and themselves.
"I told younger shuttlers to take Ricky and me as examples. We have focused on competing in the Olympics for a year," said Rexy, who won the 1996 Olympics gold medal with Ricky.
"I have urged my juniors to improve their discipline and to increase their training, physical condition and motivation."
Many officials have complained about the players' lack of discipline, including motivator Andrie Wongso, who has been recruited prior to the finals of the Thomas and Uber Cups in Kuala Lumpur in May and the Olympics.
Some shuttlers reportedly return to the training center late at night, fail to take care of their physical conditioning and are more concerned with material comforts, such as installing phones in their rooms.
Rexy, Ricky and Hendrawan were invited by Andrie for lunch and were told to unite and commit to PBSI's training programs. The association was also urged to listen to the shuttlers' needs.
Rexy expressed hope that Monday's meeting would bring improvement. He spoke about the need to increase training discipline to each of the respective event coordinators -- Cindana Hartono and Dwi Retnowati in the women's singles, Elysa and Carmelita in the women's doubles, Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur in the mixed doubles, Taufik Hidayat and Hendrawan in the men's singles and Candra Wijaya in the men's doubles.
"I think they can accept that."
Badminton is Indonesia's best hope to win an Olympics medal from the 70 athletes from different sports being groomed for the event. (yan)