RI badminton team misses Grand Prix Finals

JAKARTA (JP): For the first time in Indonesia's badminton history, it failed to qualify women's doubles in the six-star Grand Prix Finals in Brunei Darussalam starting on Wednesday.

Other bad news is that the 1996 Olympics gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky also failed to qualify for the US$250,000 event for the first time since their participation in 1992.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) rules say only eight best doubles in the men's, women's and mixed doubles events can be admitted to compete in the finals.

Indonesia's Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta are ninth ranked in the world while seniors Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban are in 10th position.

Ricky and Rexy are only ranked 11th.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) training director, Christian Hadinata, said over the weekend that Elysa and Deyana had been unable to boost their performances since early this year as Elysa had been suffering from a knee injury.

"Despite tougher competition in the women's sector, our shuttlers performances are decreasing as they lack self- confidence which can occur when the athletes and their coaches do not have a close relationship," he said.

"I believe Imelda Wiguna (women's doubles coach) has conveyed all her knowledge to her shuttlers. Both sides, athletes and coaches, must have strong relationships. They both must trust each other and athletes must comprehend that they train everyday for something, not only as a daily routine," he said.

Separately, Rexy said he failed to qualify for the closing- year event not because of his trip to England, where he plans to coach after retirement.

"Ricky and I had planned to compete in the Danish Open in September two weeks prior to D-day because we realized we must secure our positions in the event as we were only in seventh position in the world. But PBSI secretary general, Leo Wiranata, declined our request saying it was too late to register us."

"Three days before the just-concluded China Open took place, PBSI tried really hard to register us because we dropped from seventh to 11th position. I was still in England and Ricky called me saying that I must rush home to compete in the event. When the China Open organizers declined the request, they put the blame on me," Rexy said emotionally.

"I went to England with the permission of PBSI officials. If only they had told me earlier that Ricky and I had to perform in the China Open, I would have canceled my flight to England to compete in the event."

Rexy said he would move to England after the Olympic Games in Sydney next year.

"Christian told us that we must focus our attention on the Olympics and cancel our plans to retire. We will take part in the remaining tournaments -- the Korean Open, the China Taipei Open, the All England and Japan Opens. Ricky and I experienced the pressure in the Olympics and it was really tough to overcome it. Christian hopes we can share our experiences especially with our successors Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan," he said.

Men's singles Taufik Hidayat, number three in the world, said he aimed to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix Finals.

"This is the first time I am competing in the Grand Prix Finals and my target is to reach the semifinals. As my position is getting better, I find my challenge is getting tougher. I will try my best until the dateline for the Olympics qualification on April 30 next year to stay in the world top five," said the 18- year-old shuttler.

Taufik said he would compete in the Chinese Taipei, the All England and Japan Opens next year to secure his position for the Olympics berth. (yan)