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EA Games gold medalist Muhammad Rijal and fellow shuttlers Anneke Feinya Agustine and Shesar Hiren Rhustavito have been dropped from the national badminton training camp (pelatnas).

The announcement was made on Monday at the training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta. The three shuttlers will return to their respective clubs, with Rijal and Sheshar going back to Djarum badminton club in Kudus, Central Java, and Anneke to Jaya Raya Jakarta.

Rijal, who competes in the mixed doubles event with partner Debby Susanto, was fresh from winning gold at the 27th SEA Games in Naypyitaw, earlier this month.

It was the duo's highest achievement of 2013. Through the whole year, they were only able to reach the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Super Series, the Swiss Open GP Gold, the India Super Series, the Indonesian Super Series Premier and the Singapore Super Series. They managed to reach the All England semifinals.

'It's a hard decision for us. We held four meetings to determine who will go and who will stay,' the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) head of development and achievement, Rexy Mainaky, said in a statement on Monday.

He said the training camp management held an annual performance appraisal for the shuttlers. Rexy explained he expected the three shuttlers to show improvements after they were dropped from the training camp. He added they would always have the chance to rejoin the camp.

Rexy said the PBSI had set a target for its elite shuttlers next year of winning titles from five prestigious championships: All England, the Thomas Cup men's team championship, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships, the Asian Games and the BWF Super Series Finals.

As for the Uber Cup women's team championship, the PBSI hopes its shuttlers can reach the semifinals.

Indonesia still has a hope in the women's game though, with the emergence of Bellaetrix Manuputty as SEA Games gold medalist.

She ended the country's six-year drought in the women's singles title competition at the biennial event after defeating Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungpan 9-21, 21-13, 21-13.

'We're convinced the current players, who've joined us based on suggestions from coaches, can reach milestones in 2014 so we can meet our targets,' Rexy said.

Overall, he thought the performance of Indonesia's shuttlers in 2013 showed promise, with an All England title from mixed double pair Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir and two titles at the World Championships from Tontowi/Liliyana and men's doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan.

'We hope other players can follow suit,' Rexy said.