RI badminton glorious, but needs to work harder

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian badminton had its ups and downs in 2002 as there were several good or even glorious achievements, but not without sad stories of defeat.

The most glorious achievement was when the Indonesian team achieved a historic feat by winning the men's team Thomas Cup for the fifth time in a row at the May 9 to May 16 tournament in Guangzhou, China, after defeating Malaysia 3-2 in the final.

Another glorious moment was the Busan Asian Games, when Indonesian men's singles shuttler Taufik Hidayat managed to win the gold medal despite biased linesmen who supported the local heroes.

In total, Indonesia has won the 22 Thomas Cup contests 13 times.

Indonesia first carved its own historical niche in the 1970s, winning the cup four times in a row from 1969 to 1979, while winning another in 1984.

This year's historic feat started in 1994 when Malaysia was beaten in Jakarta. Indonesian men's badminton shuttlers defended the coveted cup every two years until they carved another historic feat by defending the cup five times.

The second-best achievement in Thomas Cup history was winning the Cup three times consecutively; only three countries had previously done that. Malaysia won the Cup since its inception in 1948 to 1955, followed by Indonesia in 1957 to 1964 and then China in 1986 to 1992.

The victory became all the more noteworthy because nobody would have believed that the team could even reach the final, let alone create badminton history.

Indonesian shuttlers had produced poor performances in the individual events prior to the 2002 Thomas Cup. The coaches, however, were sure that their boys would do it.

The best performance prior to the Thomas Cup was achieved by Marlev Mainaky, who won the Swiss Open in early March, defeating James Chua of Malaysia.

Earlier in March, Budi Santoso made a surprising leap in his career by reaching the All England final before losing to Chinese Chen Hong.

Meanwhile in April's Japan Open, Indonesian shuttlers did not win anything as only the mixed doubles pair of Nova Widhianto and Vita Marissa entered the final in a South Korea-dominated event.

Apart from most of the Indonesian top shuttlers failing to reach their best performance prior to the Thomas Cup, the preparation was also hampered by transfer problems.

Men's singles shuttler Taufik Hidayat briefly moved to Singapore in January while Sydney Olympics doubles shuttler Tony Gunawan relocated to the U.S. to pursue his academic career.

Taufik insisted that he would play for Singapore in individual tournaments only, while emphasizing his allegiance to defend Indonesia in the Thomas Cup and Busan Asian Games.

This, however, failed to calm down the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), which threatened to ban Taufik from international events.

Such threats forced Taufik to return home in March, breaking his contract with Singapore.

It was a different situation for Tony as despite expressing his wish to be in the team, he could not make it into the team for preparation excuses.

Despite all these problems, as soon as the team arrived in Guangzhou, its confidence grew each day, beating all the odds. Indonesia fared well in the Thomas Cup, without losing any matches.

Victory was achieved by defeating Germany, Malaysia and Thailand in the group matches and Denmark in the semifinals. Indonesia did not meet the two other badminton powerhouses, host China and South Korea.

It was in the Busan Asian Games that Indonesia had the opportunity of facing China in the men's team semifinals match.

Participating in the Asian Games is almost like being in the Olympics, as most of the top badminton nations are in Asia.

By defeating China, Indonesia would have scored a famous victory, to become the unbeatable men's team in 2002.

But hopes were too high, as Indonesia crashed 1-3 in the final against host South Korea amid accusations that the local linesmen were biased toward their own shuttlers.

Then there was another South Korean opponent, stronger, this time, in the form of Lee Hyun-il. Still, Taufik beat all the odds and clinched Indonesia's fourth and last gold medal in the Busan Asiad.

Although Indonesia failed to defend its men's team gold medal, badminton can still be proud of its success in continuing its gold medal tradition.

While the men's shuttlers could walk with their heads held relatively high, the women's shuttlers had to accept the reality that they were just not good enough to reach the final of the Uber Cup.

It could not have been easy being defeated in the semifinals by upcoming powerhouse the Netherlands, which relied heavily on Indonesian-born Mia Audina.

The Indonesian girls had to work really hard during February's qualifying round in Melbourne, Australia. The girls barely missed the spot in Guangzhou.

Despite the historic feat, there was one question left to be answered by PBSI officials.

What made them refuse to field young players?

Indonesia relied on Marlev Mainaky, Taufik Hidayat, Hendrawan, Budi Santoso, Rony Agustinus in the singles and Candra Wijaya, Sigit Budiarto, Halim Haryanto and Tri Kusheryanto in the doubles.

Such a decision not to field young athletes was a mistake, as other countries such as China and Malaysia had given greater opportunities and responsibilities to their young shuttlers.

China for example, fielded juniors Dai Yun and Lin Dan, who are at the same stage of development as Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Ardiansyah.

Sony showed his expertise by defeating defending champion Taufik at the JVC Asian Championships in Bangkok in November.