RI badminton team misses Grand Prix Finals

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)