A

daunting task is ahead of Gita Wirjawan, the newly elected chairman of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), as the nation is desperate to regain glory in the sport.

The trade minister was elected the chairman during PBSI’s national meeting in Yogyakarta on Friday. He gained support from 30 of 33 provincial boards, with only Jakarta and West Nusa Tenggara voting for Icuk Sugiarto, the other candidate in the election, while Riau opted to abstain.

When officially inaugurated, Gita will replace Djoko Santoso, whose 2008–2012 chairmanship was marred by national badminton’s disappointing performance.

The most recent disappointment was at the London Olympics, where Indonesian shuttlers failed to bring home any medals for the first time since the sport was officially included in the Olympics at Barcelona in 1992.

To add to the woes, Indonesian women’s pair Meliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii were ignominiously ejected from the Olympics for their “playing-to-lose” tactics during a match. They were disqualified with other three pairs from China and South Korea.

The London debacle was the climax to previous failures by Indonesian shuttlers, such as in the Sudirman Cup, the Djarum Indonesia Open in 2011, the Thomas/Uber Cups and the All England.

Lius Pongoh, who won multiple badminton medals in the 1980s, on a TV talk show once expressed his disappointment with Djoko’s leadership, saying that the retired four-star general had been too intrusive in the development department.

Despite all the failures, several provincial boards still appeared to favor Djoko for another term until only he and Gita were left in the race.

Gita will be given 30 days to form a new organizational board. He will be assisted by Koesdarto Pramono (Yogyakarta), Yohanes IW (North Sumatra), Iryansyah B. (East Kalimantan) and Zulham (South Sulawesi).

“Gita Wirjawan as the team’s head will work to form the new board, effective from the day he is elected,” Koesdarto, who chaired the meeting in Yogyakarta, said.

Gita claimed he had the necessary skills to improve Indonesia’s badminton performance and said he would focus on improving the management system.

“Development will be done evenly, not too concentrated on Java,” he said.

The election of Gita as PBSI chairman has denied Icuk, the 1983 world champion, the opportunity for a second time.

He promoted himself as Chairul Tanjung’s replacement in 2004 but ceded to Sutiyoso, another retired general.

Icuk has cried foul play in the election and has threatened legal action.

“I knew that the schedule was set at 4 p.m. but it was brought forward without me being notified,” he said.

He said that candidates should have been able to present their vision and mission before the election.

Meanwhile in the Japan Super Series, Liliyana Natsir and Muhammad Rijal advanced to the mixed doubles semifinals on Friday after defeating Tan Wee Kiong and Ng Hui Lin of Malaysia 21-16 21-18.

They will take on second seeds Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota of Japan.

Simon Santoso also made it through after edging out fellow Indonesian Taufik Hidayat. He will face top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the semifinals.

PBSI chairs