T

he Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) welcomes all the criticism and suggestions offered by local badminton legends to fix the state of the sport in Indonesia, a top official says.

PBSI secretary-general Yacob Rusdianto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that PBSI chief Djoko Santoso “gladly welcomed all suggestions made by the public, including our former national shuttlers.”

Yacob was responding to a petition submitted by Indonesia’s badminton heroes and heroines on Monday that urged the PBSI to make a thorough and transparent evaluation of the state of the sport after the national squad’s recent failures at the Thomas and Uber Cup championships in Wuhan, China.

The legends, including seven-time All England champ Rudy Hartono and Barcelona Olympians Alan Budikusuma and Susi Susanti, expressed their troubled feelings over the loss, demanding that the PBSI be more responsible repairing the terrible condition of the sport in Indonesia.

“What PBSI has done so far — such as upgrading the national training camp’s facilities, providing physical coaches as well as doctors and psychologists — all came from their suggestions,” Yacob said.

PBSI would soon announce its evaluation of the national squad’s Thomas and Uber Cup performances, he added. “But we haven’t set the date just yet.”

Yacob said that Indonesia’s Thomas and Uber teams faced a hard situation in Wuhan. “In singles, we indeed were involved in a deep trouble. But also, our opponents also performed better than us.”

The nation had fared somewhat better against Japan in the quarterfinals, he added. “Our women fought hard, and it was close, but we weren’t lucky enough. We’re still trying to figure out what went wrong.”

In the Monday’s gathering between badminton legends and media, Indonesian favorite Taufik Hidayat was among the crowd, also commenting on the 2012 Thomas Cup team.

“I just felt that the togetherness among team members on this year’s Thomas and Uber Cup no longer existed,” Taufik said, adding that team members were busy with their own business, forgetting some “traditions” such as hanging out and praying together before and after matches.

“I’ve been on the Thomas Cup team for seven times, and this was a first.”

Taufik said that he had hesitated to compete in the Thomas Cup for two years for the sake of regenerating the national team and participated this year at the PBSI’s request out of love for the country.

“It was disappointing to learn that one of the team members decided to go to Papua for some exhibition event two days before our departure; The PBSI even approved him to go. Where is the patriotism?” the Athens Olympian who led the nation to Thomas Cup trophy wins in 2000 and 2002 said.

Ivana Lie, winner of the 1982 Asian Games and 1983 Badminton World Cup in mixed doubles with Christian Hadinata, said that it was hard to ensure that the PBSI — especially under Djoko Santoso chairmanship — heard the former shuttlers’ voices.

“There’s so much mismanagement within the PBSI. For example, the action of directly appointing a foreign coach: It should be under sports development division, but in reality, it wasn’t.”

Most of the badminton legends blamed foreign coach Li Mao, who is in charge of singles, for the failure of Indonesian singles.

Richard Mainaky, the PBSI’s coach for mixed doubles who also attended the gathering, said that the national training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta, was no longer a sacred place. “Too many outsiders come to the camp.”

Former national doubles shuttler Imelda Wiguna, who played a role in nailing Indonesia’s first Uber Cup trophy 1975, said that the country’s badminton was “very sick”.