Sigit/Chandra victory saves RI in World Championship
Sigit/Chandra victory saves RI in World Championship
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's last hope, Sigit Budiarto and Candra
Wijaya, proved they were the best duo in the world after winning
the men's doubles at the World Championship at the Scotstoun
Leasure Center in Glasgow on Sunday.
Sigit/Chandra, who were being partnered by cold-handed coach
Christian Hadinata six months ago, worked hard to beat Olympic
silver medalists Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia 8-15,
18-17, 15-7.
Their win helped Indonesia save face after its losses at the
Sudirman Cup and World Championship.
As Yap's backhand hit the net, Indonesian supporters yelled
for joy while Sigit and Chandra were stunned, looking at each
other in disbelief.
Sigit/Chandra, who beat South Korea's Lee Dong-soo/Yoo Yong-
sung in the semifinals, lost the first game 8-15 to the
Malaysians.
In the second game, Cheah/Yap, who beat Indonesia's Olympic
gold medalists Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky, took control of the
match and rushed to lead 10-6 and 13-8.
But Sigit/Chandra used their serve chances to force deuce at
13-13. But they failed to take the points and gave the Malaysians
a 17-14 lead to the Malaysians instead.
A shaky serve from Yap gave the Indonesians a chance claw back
and take the second game 18-17.
In the deciding set, Sigit/Chandra surged ahead and led 10-0
but the Malaysians came back and to trail 6-10.
The Indonesians then won 15-7.
Cheah/Yap, who also lost in a thrilling Olympic final against
Ricky/Rexy, were disappointed.
Indonesia won the men's doubles, Denmark took the men's
singles, while China romped home with three titles, the women's
singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles titles.
China success comes a week after it retained the Sudirman Cup.
Regeneration
The Badminton Association of Indonesia's Hadi Nazri said he
hoped Sigit/Chandra's win would encourage second string shuttlers
and juniors.
"We all know that our failure at the Sudirman Cup was because
of late regreening ," Hadi was quoted by Antara as saying.
Late regenerating happened in the men's and women's singles,
women's doubles and mixed doubles.
"The association must give chances to young players to compete
in international events abroad," he said.
"This must be done soon, otherwise we could fail in the Thomas
and Uber Cups championships next year in Copenhagen."
Sports observer Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar agreed Indonesia's
failure was because of late regeneration.
"To solve the problem, the association must be selective in
grooming talented young shuttlers and programming them to be
champions. That's what I did to boost Alan (Budikusuma) and
friends," he said.
"Coaches also have to improve their coaching skills. They must
learn modern coaching skills, how to improvise and widen their
information about badminton progress in China, South Korea,
Denmark and Sweden," he said.
Siregar said the association had to set up national club
competition.
"In Denmark, Sweden and China, the competitions run for seven
months a year," he said.
The association could also use old shuttlers as practice
partners for younger players to prepare them as coach's
assistants, he said.
"They have experience which could be useful to young
shuttlers. They just need to learn coaching methods. They can
replace our coaches in the future," Siregar said. (yan)