Sutiyoso

Sutiyoso
named
new PBSI
chairman

Eva C. Komandjaja
Jakarta

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso won the chairmanship of the
Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) on Saturday after
contender Dahlan Iskan withdrew his bid just before the votes
began during an extraordinary meeting here.

Sutiyoso replaced outgoing chairman Chairul Tanjung for the
2004-2008 term with the challenging task ahead of raising
Indonesia's badminton performance.

Chairul should have served out his term until 2005 but he was
forced to resign as he was deemed incompetent of the job.

While the prospect ahead is daunting, Sutiyoso's rise to the
chairmanship was not as hard as expected as Dahlan, who had the
support of scores of provincial chapters, raised a white flag
before the race began.

"I knew that I would lose in the voting after observing the
situation here. I don't want to prolong the meeting because this
is Saturday night and everybody should be having fun, instead of
being stuck here," Dahlan, who was nominated by the East Java
chapter, told reporters just after he withdrew.

The voting would have involved an overall 384 votes from 29
provincial chapters and 355 regency-level chapters.

Sutiyoso, who is backed by a group of former players and 23
provincial chapters, spoke about his future plans but said he
would not dare make any changes in the PBSI body in the near
future.

"The Olympic Games is coming soon and I don't want to make any
drastic changes right now, I will continue the association's
training program for the shuttlers and give them extra motivation
to compete in Athens," he told reporters in a press conference
after the meeting.

Sutiyoso said that he would prioritize winning the Thomas Cup
in Japan in the next two years and raising the performance of the
women's team so it could at least make it to the final in the
Uber Cup competition.

He also saw the need to improve communication between PBSI's
central board and its chapters, as such problems were responsible
for Chairul's ouster.

Being the chairman of the Indonesian Governors Association, he
said, would make it easier for him to coordinate with the
regions.