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Djarum scholarships groom new talents as pro shuttlers
Djarum has always supported badminton in Indonesia
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jarum has always supported badminton in Indonesia. With impressive facilities and a scholarship program at its training center, Djarum Badminton Club (PB Djarum) is committed to grooming new talents to become great shuttlers and world champions, and to maintaining national athletes’ badminton prowess.
Every year during the school holidays, some young Indonesians passionately enroll in the badminton scholarship program extended by Perkumpulan Bulutangkis Djarum (PB Djarum), a badminton club in Kudus, Central Java.
The program is known for its competitiveness and great opportunity in badminton training. Last year, 700 applicants from various areas across the archipelago applied for the program. The figure was much higher than 445 recorded in 2008. Out of the 700 applicants in 2009, only 14 candidates, comprising five males and nine females, were admitted. They lived in the PB Djarum dormitory with other athletes.
Enjoying the same facilities, the participants were trained to become qualified shuttlers.
This year, PB Djarum will also open the opportunity as part of its effort to find new young talents.
With a spirit to groom great badminton players, PB Djarum always tries to improve itself. For instance, the Club has prepared the Jati-Kudus Sport Center (GOR) known as the Djarum Badminton Training Center. The facility, constructed in 2006, is located on a 43,207-hectare plot of land.
The facility is only one form of evidence of Djarum’s commitment to supporting badminton. There have been ups and downs in Indonesia’s dominance in badminton, but Djarum is always a great supporter. It will keep on preparing with great passion, not only for the sport itself, but also for the improvement of new generations of badminton players.
At the training center, younger generations of players who win scholarships will be trained by qualified coaches. After a tight selection process, the scholarship winners will receive various facilities. The scholarship includes accommodation in a dormitory, which is located in a convenient and splendid complex. The complex comprises an exclusive training hall, a library, a function hall and a fitness center with modern equipment. Nutritious food is also provided.
All of the facilities are provided for the ease of the athletes so they can practice optimally. The most important things at the training center are the coaches and the badminton-related equipment.
In addition, PB Djarum will facilitate any athletes who are selected to participate in local or international championships. While living in the training center, the athletes can continue their formal education.
Established four decades ago, PB Djarum has experienced many achievements, in which its shuttlers won various domestic and international championships. The city of Kudus has come to be known as a place that produces the best badminton players that are recognized globally.
PB Djarum applies a strict selection process, in which every athlete candidate has to meet several requirements, including age, height, aptitude, intellectual capacity, psychological stability, basic skills and family support. The Club is also known to have excellent practice methods and training activities.
Such a system is being implemented to increase competitiveness among the athletes.
For example, the athletes should maintain strict adherence to the rules of badminton during practice. To develop their performance, PB Djarum adopts two main training methods that involve skill and physical stamina improvement. Badminton is indeed a sport that requires great stamina.
For physical stamina improvement, PB Djarum has special places in Colo and Kaliyitno, which are located in the valley of Mount Muria. There is a jogging track in Colo that requires very high stamina to finish. The track includes sections with 45-degree inclines. A famous badminton player in the 1980s, Liem Swie King, used to practice twice a week in Colo. Each time he took five hours to get to the top of the track.
The track in Kaliyitno is similar to the one in Colo, in which each athlete should finish a route with several sharp bends and curves.
From the initial location in Brak, which is now known as Jl. Lukmonohadi, in Kudus, great badminton players were born, including Liem Swie King, Kartono, Christian Hadinata, Hastomo Arbi, Hadiyanto, Heryanto and Hadibowo, who were named the Magnificent Seven of Djarum when they grabbed the Thomas Cup in golden era of 1984. Among the female players, the names of Ivana Lie, Kho Mei Hwa and Ho Djay Ging were also well-known during this era.
In the 1990s, PB Djarum groomed a new generation that included Hariyanto Arbi, Alan Budi Kusuma, Ardy B. Wiranata, Eddy Hartono, Rudy Gunawan, Denny Kantono, Antonius Budi Ariantho and Sigit Budiarto. Among the female players were Yuni Kartika, Yuliani Santosa, Minarti Timur, Ellen Angelina and Zelin Resiana.
The new millennium saw the emergence of other great PB Djarum players like Luluk Hadiyanto and Maria Kristin. All of them played significant roles in the era of Indonesia’s dominance in badminton. One by one they won leading championships like the All-England, World Championship, Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and the Olympics.
PB Djarum contributes its best to always improve badminton in Indonesia so the country can uphold its badminton prowess and once again reign supreme with leading shuttlers. With the support of all sports fans, especially badminton enthusiasts, the Club is committed to reaching this goal and will consistently remain committed.
Through its scholarship program, PB Djarum also hopes to find and groom more young talents so new world-class athletes and world champions will come from the place.
