Susi urges PBSI to court young talent

JAKARTA (JP): Former badminton queen Susi Susanti has urged the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to seek younger talented players, especially women, and not to pigeonhole them in one event during their early years of national training.

"I think PBSI must look for younger talent, players who are about 14 years old, to be admitted to the Indonesian Badminton Center," she said on Thursday.

The recently retired Susi was commenting on the poor performance of Indonesian women shuttlers. No player has replaced her in the world's top rankings and Mia Audina, formerly Indonesia's second best player, moved to the Netherlands with her Dutch husband in May.

Susi, whose slew of career titles included gold in the 1992 Olympics, said the recruitment system of selecting winners of national tournaments was good, but PBSI still needed to admit younger players who displayed talent.

"I experienced myself that by recruiting 14-year-old girls, coaches still can improve their skills, and physical and mental conditioning," she said.

"Tournament winners who are more than 18 years old still can be recruited as sparring partners for younger players. They should have an internal selection to decide the ranking."

It was up to the coaches to impart their training and knowledge to the players, she said.

"Players must have the initiative to increase their training sessions if they're physically strong enough. Only by hard work can they reach international standards."

Susi faulted PBSI's training program which put players in an event specialty of either singles or doubles.

"Those young girls must play singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles during their early years in the center. They must also compete in those three events in national tournaments. When they reach the senior level, PBSI can determine which event is best for them."

Susi said PBSI should not expect great achievements from younger players for at least the first three years of training.

"We can't expect them to win a title in three years. But later on, I believe we can count on them."

Susi named Singapore and Malaysia as examples of countries who were endeavoring to pick talented younger players. The neighboring countries have lacked top-ranked women's shuttlers for nearly a decade but are grooming teenagers now.

Susi and husband Alan Budikusuma handed over Rp 25 million (US$3,475) on Thursday to Kompas daily to be distributed to refugees throughout the country. The money was proceeds from the couple's farewell exhibition match on Oct. 30. (yan)