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)