Singapore, a new haven for Indonesia shuttlers
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Singapore
It was 8.30 on a Saturday morning and Guillemard Road remained quiet. But several male shuttlers were already gearing up for their training session.
The players -- Wandri Kurnia Saputra, Hendri Kurnia Saputra, Donny Prasetyo, Denny Setiawan and Hendra Wijaya -- are familiar names to Indonesians.
They are indeed Indonesians, who are looking for a better chance and definitely more money as professional players in neighboring Singapore.
As Denny told The Jakarta Post, his main reason for moving to Singapore was the lack of opportunities to play in tournaments abroad when he was a member of the Indonesian Badminton Center, the stable of the country's elite players.
"The competition in Indonesia, especially in the men's doubles, is very tough. It's difficult to keep up with senior players as they're really good.
"When my (twin) brother Donny was demoted, I opted to be with him. At that time, we were given an offer to play for Singapore and we took the chance," Denny recalled.
The twins met Nunung Wibiyanto, the Singapore national team's doubles coach, who later offered them the chance to play in the country when they were competing in the Jakarta Open satellite event in April, which was their last tournament at home.
Performance-wise, they have not yet shown an improvement in the quality of their play during the first six months of their stint in Singapore. Denny and Donny could only reach the second round at best in the Singapore Open, China Open and Hong Kong Open.
Wandri, who moved to Singapore with twin brother Hendri one and a half years ago, did so for similar reasons to Dony and Denny, although the former were not part of the national team.
"Competing in the men's doubles in Indonesia was tight. We had to fight hard to qualify for the (badminton) center," he said.
The doubles players may not be considered as impressive as their singles counterparts Indra Wijaya and Ronald Susilo.
Indra, who reached his career best world ranking of four in 1996, moved to Singapore last year after failing to keep up with the fast improving juniors at the center. Indra, currently world No. 17, is the elder brother of Olympic gold medalist Candra Wijaya.
World No. 30 Ronald, Candra's brother in law, started to play for Singapore after he attended junior high school in the country.
Indra, Ronald, Hendri and Wandri are preparing themselves for the Thomas Cup Asia zone qualification tournament next year in Melbourne, Australia. Denny and Donny will serve as their practice partners.
Former national coach Mulyo Handoyo -- who was blamed by former Badminton Association of Indonesia chairman Subagyo Hadisiswoyo for the verbal attacks launched by the trainer's prodigy Taufik Hidayat -- is among six Indonesian coaches now operating in Singapore. The other coaches, mostly in charge of doubles players, are Nunung, Aman Santosa, Fariz Mawardi and Dicky Purwotjugiono. Hadi Idris is coaching the juniors while Mulyo is working with former Chinese star Zhao Jianhua in the singles.
"I am only aiming to improve Singapore's singles world ranking right now. I don't dream of turning them into champions. I really hope they can reach the world top eight next year," Mulyo said.
Denny and Donny admitted that there were better quality practice partners back in Jakarta, but Singapore gave them a lot more opportunities to compete at international events.
"The SBA plans to send us to tournaments around Asia. All we have to do is use the opportunity to prove our skills," said Denny, referring to the Singapore Badminton Association.
All the Indonesian players are accommodated in a dormitory and earn a monthly allowance from the SBA. Usually they ride their bikes to the training hall.
"It's much cheaper and healthier," said Mulyo.
The seven players and six coaches are not the first to play for another country.
Fung Permadi had started his career with Chinese Taipei in the late 1980s for the same reason. Then followed 1992 Olympic men's singles silver medalist Ardy Wiranat, who took up a coaching job in the United States and is now based in Canada. The 1996 Olympic women's singles silver medalist and Uber Cup heroine Mia Audina moved to the Netherlands in 1999.
Player migration is unavoidable in the global era, but it is the task of the International Badminton Federation to set up regulations on the issue, otherwise things will get out of control in the future.