Selection of national badminton team starts

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's junior badminton players dominated the selection tournament for the national team, but will have to wait and see if the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) approves their promotions.

Vidre Wibowo of Tangkas Club Jakarta topped the standings for the boys singles after winning five matches and dropping one during the round-robin competition. Dwi Retnowati of club Jaya Raya, also from Jakarta, won all of her matches in the girls singles event.

The pairing of Rossi and Diah Novita of Jaya Raya finished first in girls doubles, while Tangkas' Nova Widianto and Upi Ch won the mixed doubles. The boys pairing of Andreas and Luluk were the only non-Jakarta winners in the tournament.

The chief of athletes development affairs at PBSI, Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, said that a team of selectors would decide as soon as possible the number of junior players who deserve promotion to the country's elite team.

"Even the winners have not secured promotions. We will simply recommend their inclusion to the selectors, who have the final word," Siregar said. "The number of new recruits will also depend on our financial situation."

He said the selectors would ask for the approval of PBSI's chairman before publishing the list of promoted shuttlers.

PBSI nominated five players for promotion before the beginning of the five-day selection tournament, which ended on Friday, because they won at least three interclub tournaments last year. These five shuttlers are boys singles Arief Rasidi, girls singles Niniek Masrikah and Atu Rosalina, and the boys doubles pairing of Denny Setiawan and Donny Prasetyo.

A coach at the Lippo Bandung club, Sidik, suggested that the PBSI hold a selection tournament every two years at the most, instead of the current practice of holding the tournament every year.

"A year is not enough for a new recruit to perform his or her best. If the PBSI finds certain players fail to meet their standards before the two-year probation period ends, it can pick players from the previous selection tournament as replacements," he said.

Sidik said ideally the PBSI would arrange a four-year training program, with the ultimate goal of winning gold medals at the Olympic Games.

Siregar said that the PBSI would use age, international achievements, personality, commitment and discipline to decide whether to keep or expel a national team member. (yan)