Squash a long shot for medals in SEA Games
Squash a long shot for medals in SEA Games
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.