Sports bodies urged not to ignore physical stature

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

Indonesian sports authorities should not ignore the measurement of athletes' body composition in order to help avoid the athletes' performance from waning in international sport competitions, experts say.

James Tangkudung of the Jakarta National University (UNJ) said on Thursday that some popular sports in this country such as badminton had ignored anthropometry - the study of human body measurements - when recruiting and training elite athletes.

"Based on my research, the failure of our badminton players to retain the Thomas Cup was partly due to the fact that (some of the athletes) do not have the ideal height-weight composition in comparison to players from China and Denmark," he said.

"If we continue to ignore this, we will certainly be unable to improve or maintain our level in international competition," he said.

James was speaking at a University of Indonesia-sponsored, two-day seminar which highlighted the role that could be played by science and technology in improving upon the country's poor achievement in sports.

Indonesia, which had held the Thomas Cup for five consecutive times, failed in its sixth bid after losing to Denmark in the semifinals, while the female team did their expected flop in the quarterfinals.

James said elite Chinese male badminton players had an average height of 180 centimeters (6 feet) and weight of 63 kilograms (139 pounds) and were thus categorized as "thin-normal".

The Danish men had an average height of 187 cm and weight of 70.5 kg, therefore they could also be considered thin-normal, he said.

"But our men have an average height of 173 cms and weight of 66 kgs, considered as "heavy set-normal". This means Indonesian players have a harder time controlling the court, lack quickness, strength, flexibility and more readily become fatigued," he said.

An experienced physical trainer, Tahir Djide, concurred with James, saying that when Indonesian players dominated badminton competitions in the last decade, the composition of the players height and weight was relatively similar to the current crop of Chinese players.

He said a strict dietary regime should be maintained for the athletes so they had a more ideal height-weight composition for their sport.

James went on to say that other sports authorities like soccer should also pay attention to anthropometry so that sport could reach its potential.

"For instance, we need tall, strong defenders in soccer. We also need quick players in the front. Without that, it will be difficult to build a strong team," he said.

Boedi Darma Sidi of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) concluded that anthropometry should be used as a standard method when scouting for top athletes.

"But it is not everything. Players should also learn sport technique and must be smart to help themselves reach top performance," he said.

But he admitted that if all players had relatively equal technique, those who had ideal composition of height and weight will benefit the most," he said.