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egendary Indonesian shuttler Rudy Hartono has said that Indonesia is “dreaming” in thinking it can win the biennial Thomas and Uber Cup this May and that there are no such thing as instant results in sport.

“I’m not being pessimistic, it is the reality. It was hard [for Indonesia] to win [in the preliminaries]. Let’s not expect to win the cup titles. It will be good enough for Indonesia to reach the Uber semifinals and Thomas final,” Rudy told reporters on the sidelines of a discussion event on sport development held by the Indonesian Sports Foundation (YOI) and Telkomsel mobile operator in Jakarta on Monday.

Both the Indonesian Thomas and Uber Cup teams have secured tickets into the final rounds, which will be held in Wuhan, China, from May 20-27.

The Thomas team finished third in a recent preliminary round in Macau to qualify for the finals, while the Uber team finished fifth in the preliminaries but eventually nailed a spot in the finals through playoffs where they beat Singapore, Malaysia and Hongkong.

The team earned the spot without a match against the Netherlands on Sunday night as the individual rankings of Indonesia’s players are higher than the Dutch.

Indonesia won both the Thomas and Uber Cup in 1994 and 1996. The last time the country won the Thomas Cup was in 2002, and the country last brought home the Uber Cup in 1996. China is the Thomas Cup defending champion while South Korea holds the Uber.

“We will be fighting in the ‘tigers’ cage’ and we expect victory? We often lose [when competing] in other countries. Don’t expect too much,” said the eight times All England champion.

“So, a repeat of 1996? Dream on!”

The 63-year-old men’s singles champ helped Indonesia’s Thomas Cup team grab the title in 1970, 1973, 1976 and 1979; as well as being runners-up in 1967 and 1982. Rudy slammed the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) for its “poor management”, especially in its national training camp facilities.

“If we look back over the past year, [Indonesia’s poor achievement] shows it all,” he added. “There are no such thing as instant [results] in sport. I’m not discrediting anyone; it is a fact and we must tell the truth.”

Rudy saw weak performances in the singles division, especially with the women. “Have our women’s singles got into the semifinals in any [international] championship [in the past year]? No, right? We were only good enough for the quarterfinals.”

“I say let’s just close down that national training camp … It has been giving the wrong training program for our shuttlers. They [PBSI] think that it is a good thing to send shuttlers to tournaments overseas.

“But, in fact, [they] often lose. Shameful … They’ve become spoiled kids,” said Rudy. “While it’s supposed to be like this: those who lose [in one international tournament] should not be allowed to participate in another event, unless they want to pay for the trip,” said Rudy.

Rudy urged the PBSI to be stricter on shuttlers and avoid compromise. “Athletes are entrepreneurs of the court. They have to work and be disciplined to earn victories. Sport doesn’t recognize compromise.”

The secretary general of the PBSI Yacob Rusdianto, however, is more optimistic.

“Although we’re through to the finals, we won’t let down our guard. As soon as we land in Jakarta, we will groom our athletes, especially on their stamina and endurance,” Yacob said on Sunday as quoted by the official PBSI website, pb-pbsi.org.