All England to expose Indonesia's badminton woes, say observers

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 03/04/2008 1:31 AM  |  Headlines

With the All England badminton championships starting in Birmingham, England, on Tuesday, Indonesia, once a dominant power in the sport, sees little chance of bringing home some titles.

"We are slow in finding new talent and grooming them early," two-time All England champion Hariyanto Arbi told The Jakarta Post in an interview over the weekend.

"That's why we lack outstanding players now," said the 34-year-old shuttler-turned-businessman.

Indonesia's last All England champs were Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya in the men's doubles in 2003.

The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) has very few prospects seen as having any chance at upsetting the dominant Chinese and winning a title.

Among those few players are men's doubles world champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan and mixed doubles world champions Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir.

All England two-time champion Ade Chandra said that early training for younger shuttlers was needed to make them shuttlers.

"They (the association) should start grooming talented shuttlers from the time they are nine years old instead of the current policy of after 17 years old," said the 58-year-old doubles specialist, who teamed up Christian Hadinata to win the All England in 1972 and 1973.

He said the current badminton climate in the country was a lot different from when he and other Indonesians were regularly winning major tournaments.

As proof, he offered a black-and-white photo of eight-time All England champion Rudy Hartono, Mulyadi, Christian and himself standing in the back of a truck waving to a sea of badminton fans after their All England wins.

"I think if our shuttlers can repeat some of our success in winning major tournaments, more children will be interested in becoming badminton players," he said.

He said many parents now were reluctant to send their children to badminton clubs because they were concerned that badminton could not provide a good future.

"Life for many shuttlers is difficult after they retire because they don't have any other skills but playing badminton," he said.

He said even he preferred his children focus on their studies rather than join a badminton club.

He called on the association to retain former badminton stars to help coach young players across the country and to provide those former shuttlers decent salaries.

"I believe if PBSI offers decent salaries to former shuttlers to coach in their hometowns, they would love to do it ...."

Many former prominent players -- including two-time All England men's doubles champion Rexy Mainaky and doubles specialist Tony Gunawann -- left Indonesia to coach or play abroad for more money. (ind)

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