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PBSI screens young talent via school competition
Center stage: PBSI chairman Gita Wirjawan (second right) pairs with former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat (right) in a badminton match against PT Nestle Indonesia president director Arshad Chaudhry (left) with PBSI official Ricky Subagdja (second left) during the launch of the Milo School Competition in Jakarta on Wednesday
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Center stage: PBSI chairman Gita Wirjawan (second right) pairs with former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat (right) in a badminton match against PT Nestle Indonesia president director Arshad Chaudhry (left) with PBSI official Ricky Subagdja (second left) during the launch of the Milo School Competition in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Tribunnews/Danny Permana) (second right) pairs with former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat (right) in a badminton match against PT Nestle Indonesia president director Arshad Chaudhry (left) with PBSI official Ricky Subagdja (second left) during the launch of the Milo School Competition in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Tribunnews/Danny Permana)
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span class="inline inline-none">Center stage: PBSI chairman Gita Wirjawan (second right) pairs with former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat (right) in a badminton match against PT Nestle Indonesia president director Arshad Chaudhry (left) with PBSI official Ricky Subagdja (second left) during the launch of the Milo School Competition in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Tribunnews/Danny Permana)
The 12th edition of the Milo School Competition, a badminton event for elementary and junior school students, will commence early next month in four cities with an expanded format, with it becoming an official event in the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) calendar.
The event will take place from Feb. 3 to April 26 in Cirebon (West Java), Yogyakarta, Surabaya (East Java) and Palembang (South Sumatra).
With the competition on the official calendar, the PBSI will hold a training for 30 physical education teachers who will be expected to pass on their knowledge to students.
The training will run for three days in each city during the competition.
'It's part of our efforts to incorporate badminton into the school curriculum by adopting the Badminton World Federation [BWF] Shuttle Time program modules,' PBSI chairman Gita Wirjawan told a press conference on Wednesday.
'What's different from this year's competition is that the winners will have a chance to play against national shuttlers in a program called 'Perang Bintang' [Star Wars],' he said.
Nestle Indonesia business executive manager of beverages Prawitya Soemadijo said the program was expected to give room to young athletes to develop their confidence.
The winners from the four cities will receive training from badminton living legend Taufik Hidayat, prior to the grand final in Jakarta in June.
Taufik has been assigned as ambassador for the competition, along with world third seed Tommy Sugiarto, the winner of the second edition of the tournament in 2003.
Young shuttlers such as Jonatan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who have just joined the PBSI's national training center in Cipayung, were winners of the school competition in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
Both Jonatan and Anthony will represent Indonesia in the Asia Junior Championships 2014, an under-19 badminton tournament in Taipei between Feb. 16 and Feb. 23.
According to national training camp division head Ricky Subagdja, the school competition will help PBSI screen young shuttlers that have the potential to become champions in the future.
'We keep a database of all participants each year so that we can monitor their progress,' he said.
He added that most of the participants who were taking part in the competition were interested in badminton as a hobby.
'But who knows, hobbies can turn into achievements one day if they have the potential. That's what we're looking for,' he said.
