Despite the majority presence of familiar faces, some refreshing elements jazz up the country’s All England male squad this year, as two newly selected residents of the national training camp join in.
“Last year, we tried to take Tommy [Sugiarto] and Tantowi [Ahmad] but their world ranks did not qualify them to participate in the Super Series event such the All England, Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) secretary-general Yacob Rusdianto said Wednesday. Thankfully, this year we have young shuttlers qualifying for the All England.”
The two young blood and All England first-timers are women’s singles Maria Febe Kusumastuti, 22, who has just returned from the Uber Cup Asia Zone qualifier and 21-year-old men’s singles Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.
Hayom, previously, said that he personally set a target to reach the semifinal of the prestigous All England Open Super Series in Birmingham, England, which takes place on March 9-14.
“In any case, we do want to burden them with high expectations. This prestigious All England will
be their place to explore all possibilities and give them expierence by facing the world’s best shuttlers,” said Yacob.
The All England championship is widely regarded as the most prestigious badminton championship in history since its inception in 1899. Indonesia scored several triumphs in the five sectors of All England, but the most recent one was in 2003 by men’s doubles Sigit Budiarto/Chandra Wijaya.
In 1996, men’s singles Heryanto Arbi snatched the All England champion title along with women’s doubles Finarsih/Lili Tampi, while Susy Susanti crowned the All England women’s singles in 1994.
Head of the current national coach Christian Hadinata and his mixed doubles pair Imelda Wiguna won the sector title back in 1979 by Christian Hadinata/Imelda Wiguna. The closest their predecessor could get was two years ago, when Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir came home as runner-ups.
“It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either,” Christian said about the chance for the country’s current shuttlers to come home with a title from the 100th edition of All England.
“Hopefully, the seniors, who are seeded at the event, can reach results that suit their seeding positions,” said Christian about the second-seed mixed doubles Nova/Lilyana, third-seed men’s doubles Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan and fourth-seed men’s singles Taufik
Hidayat.
Yacob added that this year was the momentum for the country’s senior top men’s singles Taufik as well as mixed doubles Nova/Lilyana to grab the champion titles.
“Taufik has collected every title but the All England, while it
will be the best thing for Nova before he hangs up his racket,” Yacob commented on the 28-year-old top shuttler Taufik and 32-year-old Nova, who were said to have the greatest composure and ambition of champions.
Meanwhile, a refreshing move was made by the women’s doubles coach, Aryono Miranat, to split and switch the country’s main women’s doubles Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda, currently ranking nine in the world and world number 10 Shendy Puspa Irawati/Meiliana Jauhari.
Greysia will be pairing with Meiliana, while Shendy will be paired with Nitya.
Newly paired Greysia/Meiliana, who won the recent National Championship in Surabaya, East Java, contributed two points to the countryNs Uber Cup squad during the group final and the Asian qualifier final.
The All England championship is widely regarded as the most prestigious badminton championship.
