Young shuttlers vow to join Thomas Cup team

Young shuttlers vow to join Thomas Cup team

JAKARTA (JP): The national men's team's victory of bringing
home the Thomas Cup four consecutive times and 12 times in
history of the coveted cup has motivated young shuttlers to
follow in their seniors' steps.

Ronny Agustinus said on Monday that he wanted to join the
Thomas Cup team in the upcoming two years.

"I have realized that I have yet to reach my best achievement
in international tournaments. But I hope to improve my physical
condition and mentality in the future to follow in my seniors'
steps," said Ronny, who will be 22 on Oct. 7.

Ronny said he always had psychological problems in
international tournaments, especially when competing in major
events and facing tough opponents.

"I have discussed how to overcome my psychological barrier
with coach Agus Dwi Santoso. I also have problems in improving my
concentration on the court. But I prefer to talk to my coach
instead of psychologists," said Ronny, a member of the 1999
Southeast Asian Games in Brunei Darussalam.

Teammate Johan Hadikusuma shared the same idea of joining the
next Thomas Cup team.

"I don't have any experience in competing in a team event but
in the next two years I must be able to replace the seniors on
the Thomas Cup team," said Johan, who is a younger brother to the
1992 Olympic Games gold medalist Alan Budikusuma.

Both Ronny and Johan said the presence of physical trainer
Ridwan Soemardjo helped them to increase their fitness.

"But I hope the trainer and the coach can discuss about the
training program more intensively to reach the maximum
performance in the future," Ronny said.

"Should the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) want to
have a physical trainer, they must do it continuously, not only
for a short term period as they did with the Thomas Cup team,"
said Johan, who claimed that he was no longer walking in Alan's
shadow.

Ridwan and Tahir Djide, who was in charge for doubles'
physical condition, only had about two months to improve
athletes' physical fitness.

If the singles expressed their high motivation, the doubles
specialist, Ade Lukas, partnering with Santoso Sugihardjo, seemed
pessimistic on his chance to join the next team.

"The competition in the doubles sector is much tougher
compared to the singles. We still have many good young doubles,
including Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan; Flandy Limpele and Eng
Hian; and Halim Heryanto and Sigit Budiarto. It's really hard for
us to compete against them. But we are trying," he said.

All players said they wanted to achieve better in the upcoming
four tournaments; the Indonesia Open, Malaysia Open, Thailand
Open and Singapore Open.

"I want to win one of the four tournaments titles," said
Johan, while Ronny said he wanted to upset the seeds at the
event.

Five countries -- Denmark, Sweden, England, the Netherlands
and Wales -- have confirmed to be competing in the Indonesia Open
at the Senayan Indoor Stadium from July 19 to July 23. (yan)