Shuttlers win this but what about next?

Shuttlers win this but what about next?

Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

I personally thought Indonesia had begun to lose its grip on
the badminton world after it only managed to win one of three
finals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Apparently, this somewhat pessimistic view was not entirely
well-founded.

This year, Indonesia improved its performance at the Sudirman
Cup in Seville, Spain by reaching the final, where it bowed out
to defending champion China. In the subsequent World
Championships, men's singles player Hendrawan and the men's
doubles pairing of Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto reigned
supreme in their respective disciplines, with China sweeping the
remaining three titles.

Tony and Halim arrived in the Spanish city as winners of the
prestigious All England.

However, the World Championships success was not convincing
enough for national shuttlers to face the challenge ahead.

Next year Indonesia will have to defend the Thomas Cup men's
team championship. Another challenge will be to win as many gold
medals as possible at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea,
hopefully better than in 1998 when Indonesia took the men's team
and the men's doubles through Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja.

In general, national shuttlers' performances throughout the
year were not satisfying. Out of 80 titles at stake in 16 Grand
Prix series tournaments, Indonesia only managed to bring home 19,
or 23.75 percent. Eight of them were contributed by the country's
mighty men's doubles team -- an improvement compared to last
year's six. It also confirmed Indonesia's domination of men's
doubles since taking the world champions title in 1995 and
Olympic gold in 1996 and 2000.

Training director Christian Hadinata, himself a former doubles
great, made a perfect decision by teaming up Candra Wijaya and
Sigit Budiarto (again) early this year. The pair took home the
1997 world champions title only to be split up after Sigit was
found guilty of using the anabolic steroid nandrolone in 1998.

Only a few may have noticed that Indonesian mixed doubles
players left their men's singles counterparts trailing in their
wake in terms of the number of titles won, which stood at five
against three this year.

Old hands Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur lived up to
their status as masters in the mixed doubles but the emergence of
Emma Ermawati -- now partnering Tri Kusherjanto, the 2000
Olympics finalist with Minarti -- is a good sign for next year.
Emma managed to win three titles, two with Tri and one with
Bambang, this year alone.

Hendrawan, meanwhile, put criticisms behind him by becoming
Indonesia's fifth men's singles shuttler to be crowned world
champion. Surprisingly he reached the heights when he was 29, a
critical age in a sport that requires explosive body movements.

Fellow men's singles players Marlev Mainaky and Taufik Hidayat
took a title each at the Indonesia Open and Singapore Open
respectively.

Unfortunately that was the best they could do.

When it came to Grand Prix series, Malaysian men's singles
players showed their domination with five titles, excluding the
All England which went to Pulella Gopichand of India.

As usual, neither country managed to break down the "Chinese
great wall" in the female ranks, with the People's Republic
claiming nine and 10 titles in the singles and doubles
respectively.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) was given a blow
when it failed to fulfill a target of five golds at the Kuala
Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in September by one medal
short.

Host shuttlers managed to topple Indonesia's domination in the
prestigious men's team event, which was Malaysia's first victory
in 10 years, defying Indonesia success in Bangkok 1998 Asiad.

But it was also annoying that none of the golds came from
singles players. In the absence of Taufik, the men's singles gold
went to host Roslin Hashim while Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn of
Thailand took the women's singles title.

Smarting from some less than satisfying achievements in 2001,
PBSI officials, with banker Chairul Tanjung in the driver's seat,
is racing against time to build a winning team for two major
events next year: the Thomas/Uber Cups and Asian Games.

Chairul, who replaced Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, inherits a talent
drain as many good players, including Tony and Taufik, decided to
quit the national team at the end of Subagyo's term.

The main reason for the exodus was what they called unfair
treatment from officials and coaches, particularly in regards to
opportunities to compete overseas, as well as the sharing of
sponsorship fees. Some players complained that they often
received their payments late and that the money was not
distributed based on category and ranking.

PBSI and players had reached an agreement that the money would
be divided based on achievements in men's doubles and singles,
mixed doubles and women's categories. But the ranking assessments
were confusing as those who were at the bottom of the IBF list
could receive quite substantial amounts of money.

Those problems are well-known but PBSI officials were
apparently not sensitive enough to seek solutions.

Prior to the Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Guangzhou, China,
in May, the national Uber Cup team must first pass a daunting
test at the qualifying round in Melbourne, Australia in February.
They will need only to reach the semifinals to qualify for the
finals.

With less than five months of effective preparation, PBSI has
been desperately recalling players who have left the training
center.

But another headache awaits.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) has been applying
the new scoring system of best-of-five games in seven points
since June.

It will be a great advantage for hosts China, whose players
are accustomed to the aggressive speed and power play game.
Moreover, China now has two juniors in Bao Chunlai and Lin Dan
who have managed to appear in the Grand Prix series.

On the contrary, Indonesia -- going directly to the final four
as the defending champion -- is still struggling to adapt to the
new system. So far, only Marlev and Taufik have been able to win
tournaments using the new scoring format while second stringer
Rony Agustinus reached the final at the Malaysia Open.

Hendrawan is apparently not confident of being able to repeat
the same level of success achieved under the old scoring regime.

"With the new scoring system, it will be very risky for PBSI
to field me as the first singles player at the Thomas Cup. I
think my juniors are well prepared for such major events. PBSI
just needs to send them to more international tournaments," he
said.

With or without the new scoring system, the PBSI will still
use much the same team as in 2000 except for the absence of Rexy,
Ricky, Antonius Budi Arianto and Hariyanto Arbi. The four quit
the center due to their ages.

Hendrawan, Marlev, Taufik, Candra, Sigit and Tony will likely
be playing alongside Halim, Nova Widhianto, Lulu Hadiyanto in the
doubles and Rony, Sony Dwi Kuncoro or Ardiansyah in the singles.

With many big names in Chairul's office -- including lawyer
Juan Felix Tampubolon, Indofood CEO Eva Rianti Hutapea and
businessman Rahmat Gobel -- it is understandable that badminton
lovers have high expectations.

The question is: can they fulfill the mission?