Early Warning Sign Wanted: Big hitters for Indonesian badminton Sports News - Tuesday, July 03, 2007 Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta A vocal crowd of Indonesian supporters were cheering for foreign shuttlers in the Indonesia Super League badminton championships contested in Jakarta on the weekend. The competition, held for the first time this year, allows local clubs to enlist in the services of foreign players. While this prevents local emerging talent from competing, the crowd was kept well entertained. Jakarta-based Tangkas dashed the hopes of city rivals Jaya Raya in the event, winning the women's team final 3-2 thanks to the efforts of Hong Kong's Wang Chen and Yip Yui Yin. Surabaya-based Surya Naga spoiled Jaya Raya's hopes of clinching the men's team crown after defeating the club 3-2 with the help of world No. 2 Chen Hong of China, Ng Wei of Hong Kong and Singapore's Ronald Susilo. The decision of league organizers to allow clubs to hire foreign players was an effective move, but only in terms of attracting spectators. Development-wise, shuttlers being groomed at the national training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta, have been demonstrating a lack of achievement on the international stage lately. A women's mixed doubles crown won by Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa two months ago in Singapore is the only Super League title Indonesia has been able to collect so far this year. Indonesia's big names, including men's singles star Taufik Hidayat, mixed doubles pair Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir and men's doubles team Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvent Yulianto have all failed to secure medals in Super League competitions. Taufik, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, lost his world championship crown last year. The only major event he has won this year was the Asian Badminton Championships. Taufik's decline has not been backed up by the country's up-and-coming players, who are yet to display consistency in international competitions. The current situation should be viewed as an early warning sign by the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI). The association urgently needs to evaluate its entire training system, from the recruitment stage to training methods being used, in order to establish what has gone wrong. It is also time for the PBSI to focus on the development of young players so as they can win against world-class shuttlers in international events. Indonesia urgently needs to promote the development of talented and consistent local players to maintain its long tradition as being one of the world's badminton powerhouses. National shuttlers face a busy schedule ahead, culminating in the World Championships to be held on Aug. 13-19 in Kuala Lumpur. Before that, they will compete in the Thailand Grand Prix, Philippines Grand Prix and China Masters. Failing to take home a title from last year's World Championships in Madrid, PBSI can only hope Taufik is up to the task this year, or perhaps even Candra Wijaya, who will partner Tony Gunawan of the United States in the event. Transforming existing players into champions is an enormous but urgent task for PBSI. Otherwise, we will have to prepare ourselves for a new era of badminton in Indonesia in which few titles will be won.
This is very true and we share the same predicament in the Philippines although in Indonesia, it seems that there is still more government support to the sport unlike in our country where the national (badminton) team needs to solicit private sponsors for their personal training.
Not all true Parts of this article are wrong. Alvent won the gold with his Suryanaga team. While Natsir won the gold with Tangkas.
This picture was taken when Taufik played Chen Hong in DOUBLES... Taufik was enjoying himself... I am sure Chen Hong was too... True story: Taufik offered Chen Hong a wager of $1000 for the winner of the doubles match. Chen Hong said no... Chen was smart. In the end, Taufik won the doubles match in rubber sets. Chen would have lost $1000...
Looks like the Indo League turns out to be a good success. And I like to see how players from different countries are all mixed and play. Now I only wish they could get LD and TH to pair up for doubles next year.
Hi! Nice pics indeed! Do you have an idea on the current rankings of Indonesian players? If you do, please do post them especially for the players who participated in the Super Liga! More power!
For the PBSI ranking, visit www.pb-pbsi.net click twice on "ranking" [left side of your screen]. PBSI ranking includes non-BWF ranking events. For the BWF rankings, visit www.internationalbadminton.org