Squash a long shot for medals in Manila

Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Juni Lengkong could have stayed the course in badminton and soccer, the two sports he first played as a boy, but found another game to his liking.

"I started playing squash when the sport was introduced as an extracurricular activity in my junior high school in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan," the national squad player said during the Indonesia Open squash tournament held at the ISCI compound in Ciputat, South Jakarta, in June.

"Although I had played badminton and soccer, I found squash interesting and not long after I learned to play squash, I won a tournament for beginners in Balikpapan."

The 23 year old is one of four men and four women called up for national training for the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November. The Squash Association of Indonesia (PSI) said in May that it set a goal of one silver medal from the Games, which marks the sport's return after it was scratched from Hanoi in 2003.

In 2001 at the Kuala Lumpur Games, Indonesia won two bronze, in the women's singles and women's team competition. In Manila, there will be no men's or women's team events.

Indonesia is a long shot for medals amid the regional dominance of Malaysia, which won four golds in three consecutive SEA Games in 1997, 1999 and 2001, and has world class players in Ong Beng Hi and Muhamad Aslan Iskandar.

"Squash is not yet popular in Indonesia. If it were, probably young men like me would have the chance to reach the world class level like badminton players," said Juni, who now plays for Jakarta.

"Sometimes I'm envious of Malaysia, which has a good development program in squash from kids to adult."

Squash courts -- an enclosed space measuring 9.75 meters by 6- 4 meters -- are still scarce in major cities.

"Public courts are very important to develop squash because people must join a club with squash court facilities before they can play the games," he said.

"If there were many squash courts in areas of Indonesia, people could play squash easily."

There also needs to be the effort to change the public perception that squash is an elite, expensive game. The price of a racket is similar to badminton, ranging from a couple of hundred thousand rupiah to Rp 1.5 million. Squash balls cost Rp 25,000 each, and can last up to six months.

Newly elected PSI chair Syarif Bastaman admitted the need to popularize the game, beginning with building more facilities.

"We need more public courts, which are still few in number, and coaches across the country," he said.

Bastaman said that he would request regional chapters embark on a concerted effort to build more courts.

"With more public courts, we could change the image that squash is an expensive sport," he said.

More coaches must also be used to introduce the game in sports clubs or schools, he said.

At present, there are about 300 squash players in 14 provincial PSI provincial chapters.

Bastaman recognized the potential for the country to produce excellent players, especially among those with a grounding in badminton, but there were still few regular national tournaments or the opportunity to compete abroad.

There is still a lot of work to be done before local players can give their neighbors a tough match.

"At present, the level of our men's players is equal to Malaysian women players," he said.