Rexy mulls quitting players' board
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)