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mid the lackluster performances of the senior shuttlers, Djarum, the country’s premier badminton club, remains upbeat about the prospects for their youngsters as it aims at producing more Asian and world junior champions throughout this year’s competition season.

“This year, we hope to push our juniors to win more titles at both the Asian and World junior championships,” Djarum club chairman Yoppy Rosimin said on the sidelines of an award ceremony for the club’s best athletes of 2011 on Tuesday.

“For our youngsters, we are eyeing at least five to six international junior tournaments, including in Holland and Germany. Overall this year, we hope that each of our shuttlers can compete in at least 10 tournaments both at home and abroad.”

Yoppy also highlighted the urgency of extra monitoring of the shuttlers’ progress, not only through the number of competitions attended but also the number of matches.

“For them to have sufficient experience, they will need to play at least 20 to 30 tournament matches per year. So, we hope to be more attentive in that aspect, not only their tournament appearances,” said Yoppy, while also reminding the shuttlers of the importance of self-awareness in injury-prevention treatments while in competitions.

This year’s World Junior Badminton Championship will be staged in Chiba, Japan from Oct. 25–Nov. 4, with the Asian Junior Badminton Championship from April 17–22 in Sichuan, China.

The club’s talented juniors seized a couple of titles at last year’s Asian Junior Badminton Championship in Lucknow, India and the World Junior Badminton Championship in Tao Yuan, Taiwan.

In October, the world junior title was brought home by mixed doubles pair Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja and Alfian Eko Prasetya, while in July, mixed duo Lukhi Apri Nugroho and Ririn Amelia also came home as Asian junior champions.

“This year is my transition year from junior to senior level. I hope that I can adapt smoothly to the pace at the senior level. Hopefully, I will also get more chances to compete abroad to maximize my experience,” said 19-year-old Gloria.

For her achievements at the world junior level as well as for another title she snatched at the National Circuit in Pekanbaru, Riau, Gloria and her partner, club fellow Edi Subaktiar, were named as the club’s best shuttlers of 2011. They both received a Rp 53 million (US$5,830) bonus from the club’s overall Rp 135 million worth of bonuses awarded to their seven best junior shuttlers.

The other bonus recipients were junior pair Sigid Sudrajad and Kenas Adi Haryanto, who won the men’s doubles title at last year’s National Circuit in Pekanbaru, pair Fernando Kurniawan and Wifqi Windarto, who brought home the men’s doubles title from the 2011 Vietnam International Challenge, and women’s singles Fransiska Ratnasari, the winner of the 2011 Russian White Nights International Challenge.

Gloria, who has trained in Djarum since 2007, is among the club’s six female players who will soon join the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) national training camp in Cipayung. “I’m still waiting for the official letter [confirming the PBSI call], though,” Gloria said.

PBSI recently announced 17 new young shuttlers-six of whom are from Djarum: Gloria, Yayu Rahayu, Ririn Amelia, Melati Daeva, Deariska Putri and Anissa Saufika — who will attend the Cipayung camp. The other fresh talent comes from other clubs such as Jaya Raya, Tangkas Alfamart, Mutiara Bandung and Hi-Qua Wima Surabaya.

The Djarum club, which has had decades of dedication to national badminton development since 1969, is the alma mater of many of Indonesia’s great badminton legends including All-England champions Lim Swie King, Christian Hadinata, Ardi B. Wiranata and Haryanto Arbi as well as the country’s 1992 Barcelona Olympics gold medalist Alan Budikusuma.