W

hile Indonesian shuttlers could only take one of the 15 titles in the opening three tournaments on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) says men’s doubles are beginning show signs of recovery.

Squads competed in the All England and German and Swiss Opens, but the only victory was Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, who defended their mixed doubles title at the All England.

Another player who came close was Tommy Sugiarto, who was runner-up in Germany.

Despite the generally grim showing, the PBSI appear to be relieved at Tontowi and Liliyana’s achievement and optimistic about the men’s doubles.

Men’s doubles coach Herry Iman Pierngadi said that a shift of strength in the men’s doubles was palpable, marked by surprise exits of some top seeded players in the three competitions.

In the German Open held in Mulheim from Feb. 26 — March 3, number one Sung Hyun Ko/Lee Yong Dae of South Korea and second seeds Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan failed to survived against their lower opponents.

The South Koreans had also to exit the Swiss Open in the early stage.

According to Herry, this shows quite significant change in the world’s men’s doubles map.

“This is an opportunity we should not squander. Since we are still in the middle-up position, we should prepare our players to share the spoil,” he said on Wednesday at the PBSI training center in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

He said the main problem faced by young Indonesian shuttlers was their mentality.

“Basically they have no problem in skills. All they need is to nurture their confidence and emotion,” he said.

Indonesia’s men’s doubles list includes Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, Muhammad Rijal/Debby Susanto, Angga Pratama/Rian Agung Saputra, Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki/Hendra Aprida Gunawan and some other pairs.

“They need to improve their psychological shape and be more focused on the game,” Herry said.

Aside of Tontowi/Liliyana, nine other players advanced to the quarterfinals and four into semifinals at the All England, which was an improvement from last year when only one men’s singles and one men’s doubles managed to advance to quarterfinals.

Deeming it mission accomplished at the All England, mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto encouraged the players to shape up further to meet the target at the next world championship in Guangzhou, China, in May.