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fter the latest bleak performance by the singles’ players at the BWF World Championships, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) intends to trim down the number of shuttlers in the national singles squad to make room for short-listed doubles newcomers.

“Hopefully, by next week we will have completed reducing the singles squad to make room for the doubles newcomers,” said PBSI deputy chairman, I Made Gusti Oka, on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the country’s 66th Independence Day ceremony at the national badminton training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

“The more singles shuttlers dismissed, the more doubles newcomers we can accommodate. We will invite these doubles players to undergo two weeks of trial trainings for selection,” said Oka, adding that the PBSI would maintain an overall squad of 64 shuttlers at the camp. Reductions will be made from the 28 singles shuttlers among those 64-player.

Oka declined to reveal who and how many shuttlers would be affected by this decision. However, previously, national mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky praised the young pair from the Djarum Club, Lukhi Apri Nugroho and Ririn Amelia, who won the Asian junior titles at the recent Asian Under-19 Championships in India. They are considered to be possible doubles candidates.

At the recent BWF World Championships, all Indonesian singles shuttlers collapsed before reaching the semifinals. The last man standing in the third round, Simon Santoso, surrendered to Danish veteran Peter Gade, who made it to the quarterfinals. Women’s singles Lindaweni Fanetri went as far as the second round, where she was beaten by
Juliane Schenk of Germany.

During a recent interview, national singles squad coach Li Mao, who has been in charge since the beginning of the year, acknowledged that satisfying results had yet to be seen at the World Championships, but he promised better outcomes at next year’s London Olympics.

One of the singles shuttlers, who has dropped to a world ranking of 117, is former world No. 6, Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Sony, who has been undergoing recuperation from injuries several months ago, will start battling for his Olympics points at the upcoming Vietnam Grand Prix Gold tournament from Aug. 23 to 28. He failed to qualify at the recent World Championships and was knocked out in July’s Indonesia Open Superseries Premier tournament qualifying opener.

Meanwhile, after the recent bronze medals achievement in London, the doubles squad is on fire to intensify their drills at the Cipayung camp.

National doubles head coach, Christian Hadinata, highlighted the urgency for the doubles players to improve their concentration on court. “The war a shuttler is facing in big events, such as the recent London Worlds Championships, is a war in concentration. Shuttlers must be able to keep their focus on winning one point to the next.”

Christian said that frequent unforced errors are primarily due to a shuttler’s inability to focus during a match. “Our shuttlers must reduce their unforced errors throughout any match. The key is that the shuttler must simulate their training sessions when playing matches in tournaments. Shuttlers must not trivialize their training sessions. Staying focused during training sessions will lead to better focus in tournaments,” said Christian.

Men’s doubles specialist Mohammad Ahsan, who won the World Championships’ bronze medal in London said: “Even during training, I refuse to be easily beaten by my sparring partners. I have to be ready to face them in real tournaments someday. So, every game I play in training, I take seriously.”