Student badminton tournaments launched
Imanuddin The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Recognizing the tight international competition and the availability of Indonesian world class shuttlers, the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education will launch a regular competition for elementary, junior and senior high school students starting in January.
In the first phase, the competition will be held in regencies and mayoralties in six Java provinces -- Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java -- and two non-Java provinces -- North Sumatra and South Sulawesi.
"Hopefully, the regular competitions will be held in all the country's regencies and mayoralties by 2004," PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar to introduce the launching of the competition at the Wisma Karsa Pemuda building in Central Jakarta on Friday.
Tanjung said the regular competition for the school students was meant not only as a medium for scouting new talent, but also as a forum to disseminate badminton development to regions outside Java.
"Currently, most of the country's top players have always come from the same clubs or provinces in Java. Through this program, we hope we can get promising players from eastern and western Indonesia's regions," he said.
Earlier, Director-general for Sports at the ministry of national education Toho Chalik Mutohir said that in an attempt to sustain the country's world class badminton standing, there should be immediate talent-scouting and supervision of prospective shuttlers from an early age.
"If it (the talent-scouting and supervision of prospective players) is not begun early, there will be a limited population of Indonesian world class badminton players," Mutohir said while addressing the opening of the seminar.
"It's now difficult to find a female badminton player of the same caliber of Ibu Minarni," he said, referring to Minarni Sudaryanto, one of the country's best players, who won the 1968 All-England Badminton championship's women's doubles along with Retno Kustiyah.
While the men's team has been dominating in the last five Thomas Cup, the world badminton tournament for men; the country's women's team has not won the Uber Cup female badminton tournament since 1996.
Mutohir, however, suggested that the talent-scouting and supervision for prospective players should not be based on rigid badminton regulations and standards of measurement.
"In an effort to attract the interest of young children to play badminton, there must be a 'modified badminton' introduced to them," he said.
"PBSI, as the organizer of the competition for the school students, should not rigidly require the adult-sized racket and actual size of courts be used in the (elementary school) students' competition," he explained, while citing that it would be difficult for an eight-year old child to play with an adult- sized racket.