Shuttlers plegde compliance with rules
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta
National shuttlers have expressed mixed feelings over the new get-tough policy that will be implemented at the national training center.
The new director of the center, Icuk Sugiarto, has said unmarried players will be required to live at the center and anyone breaking the 9 p.m. curfew will be punished.
"If the rule says that we can't live outside the center, then I will leave my house and move into the center. It's not a problem for me," Sigit Budiarto told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a ceremony here on Monday for Indonesia's Olympic athletes.
Sigit will pair with Tri Kusharjanto at the upcoming Athens Games. In all, 14 shuttlers will be included in the country's 39- member Olympic contingent.
The national training center, which is located in Cipayung, eastern Jakarta, has about 130 shuttlers, 10 percent of whom are junior players.
A former director of the center, Christian Hadinata, who is now a coach at Cipayung, said the majority of the shuttlers were unmarried and most of them already lived inside the center, including men's doubles specialist Alvent Yulianto.
Alvent said he would have no option but comply with the rules by not breaking curfew.
"I don't have a problem with that actually. If that is the rule then we have to comply. We are only athletes, we can't do anything but obey the rules if we don't want to get kicked out of the center," he said.
Alvent and Luluk Hadiyanto are the seventh ranked men's doubles pair in the world.
Icuk Sugiarto, the new chief of development affairs at the country's badminton governing body, the PBSI, has warned that he will get tough with the shuttlers as part of his planned shake-up of the training center.
With the new rules expected to come into force in September, many players will have to abandon the privilege of staying at their private residences.
Mixed doubles player Vita Marissa said it would be quite difficult for her if she had to move into the center.
"I have been living there (Cibubur) since I was eight years old. There is nothing much to do during my down time at the center, so I decided to live at home," said Vita, who with Nova Widhianto won the mixed doubles title at the Japan Open in April.
Vita used to live at the center but moved out four years ago when she bought a house in nearby Cibubur.
She said she had more freedom living at home.
"It does not matter whether I live outside or in the center. The most important thing for me is that I'm always on time for the training and I have my own rules to stay disciplined," Vita said.
But like the others, Vita said she would have no choice but to move back into the center if the new regulation was enforced.