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Djarum club expands tryouts to 9 cities
The Djarum badminton club (PB Djarum) has decided to expand its 2015 Djarum Badminton tryouts to nine cities in an effort to be more proactive in scouting new talent
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he Djarum badminton club (PB Djarum) has decided to expand its 2015 Djarum Badminton tryouts to nine cities in an effort to be more proactive in scouting new talent.
The program, called the 2015 Djarum Badminton Scholarship tryouts, will be held simultaneously at the GOR Cemara Asri Medan, North Sumatra, and GOR Dempo Jakabaring, Palembang, South Sumatra, on April 8-11.
On May 6-9, tryouts will be held at the GOR PKPSO Kaliwates Jember, East Java, and GOR Hevindo Balikpapan in East Kalimantan.
For Sulawesi province, tryouts will run at GOR Arie Lasut Manado, North Sulawesi, and GOR Sudiang Makassar, South Sulawesi, from May 27 until 30.
In West Java and Central Java provinces, they will be held on June 10-13 at GOR Lidya Djaelawijaya, Tasikmalaya, West Java, and GOR Satria Purwokerto, Central Java. The last batch of tryouts will be held at PB Djarum headquarters in Kudus, Central Java, on Sept. 1-3.
'After listening to suggestions from candidates and parents, we have decided to bring this event closer to regions known for their badminton players,' said Yoppy Rosimin, program director of Bakti Olahraga Djarum Foundation, on Tuesday.
He added that he expected tryout numbers to significantly increase as participants would no longer have to travel to Kudus to tryout.
'We used to have only 10 participants at most from non-Java regions because they had to spend quite a fortune to take part in previous tryouts that were only held in Kudus. We hope tryouts will be more effective and efficient this way,' said Yoppy.
The tryouts will adopt a tournament system by dividing the candidates into U-13 and U-15 groups, who will compete in singles matches.
Semifinalists from the men's and women's category from each group will get spots for the grand finals, which are slated for Sept. 4-6 at the GOR Djarum in Kudus.
The tryouts will be overseen by Indonesian badminton legends, among others, Olympic gold medalist couple Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma, Ivana Lie, Lius Pongoh, men's doubles specialists Christian Hadinata and Eddy Hartono.
According to PB Djarum manager Fung Permadi, they would look at the candidates' posture, skills and gauge their fighting spirit during the tryouts.
Indonesia was once a badminton superpower but has been experiencing a title drought, specifically in the men's singles and women's singles events.
The last time Indonesia brought home an Olympic gold medal was at the 2004 Athens Olympics, which was won Taufik Hidayat, while a women's singles gold medal for Indonesia was last won by Susi Susanti back in 1992 at the BarcelonaOlympics.
In doubles, Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan was the last pair to bring home a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Indonesia still relies on three-time mixed doubles All England champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir and last year's men's doubles winners Hendra Setiawan and Muhammad Ahsan. However, both failed to defend their titles at this year's tournament.
The last time a women's doubles pair won a tournament was at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari finally ended the 36-year title drought from the quadrennial multi sport event.
