Singapore, a new haven for Indonesia shuttlers

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.