D

espite the young shuttlers failure to retain the world championship title, the national badminton authority remains confident about their prospect in the future.

'€œWe must highlight the athletes performance in the team competition, in which they were able to advance to the final round after defeating badminton powerhouse China. That was a fantastic win,'€ Rexy Mainaky, head the development division of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), said on Wednesday.

At the 2013 BWF Junior Badminton Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, held Oct. 29 to Nov. 3, Indonesia was only able to bring home a silver medal in the team category, along with a silver and a bronze medal in the mixed doubles and the men'€™s singles event respectively.

Rexy said even though they did not win any matches in individual competitions, the young athletes had shown a promising performance.

At the 2012 championship in Chiba, Japan, Indonesia'€™s shuttlers won the mixed doubles event in individual competitions, thanks to Edi Subaktiar and Melati Daeva Oktaviani who won over compatriot Alfian Eko Prasetya and Shella Devi Aulia.

In Bangkok, Indonesia defeated China, who had never been absent from the final round of the tournament in the last 10 years, en route to the final.

Unfortunately Indonesia went down to South Korea 2-3 in the final.

Rexy said some names deserved credit for their performance. He mentioned Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, Jonatan Christie, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Masita Mahmudin, Fajar Alfian/Yantoni Edy Saputra and Fitriani as having showed significant performance at the tournament.

Coach Rudi Gunawan said that the players returned to their respective clubs before being called up for the Asian Junior Badminton Championships to be held in Taipei in February next year.

'€œThey have all gone back to their own clubs for the moment,'€ he said.

The next edition of the World Junior Badminton Championships will be held in Malaysia in April, which is earlier than usual due to the 2014 Youth Olympics, that is slated for August in Nanjing, China.

Meanwhile, Aprilia Yuswandari, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, and Hera Desi Ana Rachmawati advanced to the second round of the Korea Open Grand Prix Gold in Jeonju, South Korea, on Wednesday.

In the men'€™s division, Simon Santoso, who had been absent from competition for a year due to the mumps disease, was also through with a 21-15, 21-9 win over home hopeful Kwang Hee-hoo, the winner of the 2013 BWF Junior world badminton, but Riyanto Subagja and Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo exited early.