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Beyond The 70th Independence Anniversary: Badminton - Awaiting the return of a glorious era
Young and bold: Rudy Hartono (left) anticipates a serve from his Danish opponent, Svend Pri, in the final match of the menâs singles Thomas Cup in 1973
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Young and bold: Rudy Hartono (left) anticipates a serve from his Danish opponent, Svend Pri, in the final match of the menâs singles Thomas Cup in 1973. Indonesia won the trophy after defeating Denmark 8-1. (30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka)" border="0" height="348" width="512">Young and bold: Rudy Hartono (left) anticipates a serve from his Danish opponent, Svend Pri, in the final match of the menâs singles Thomas Cup in 1973. Indonesia won the trophy after defeating Denmark 8-1. (30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka)What comes into mind when a nation commemorates its independence day? Most likely people will say: âHeroesâ.
Why heroes? Because these people of heroic capacities were there and played significant, if not key, roles when a nationâs independence was achieved.
That is the general understanding of what a hero means during wartime or a struggle for independence. The modern day definition of a hero, however, is more general and not limited to war-related activities. It is frequently defined as a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities.
It is under this category that non-military persons can be considered heroes nowadays. Of the characters and professions that might be fit to be considered as heroes, athletes are among the few.
The next question will be: Why athletes? The answer is simple. It is in this category of professionals that the countryâs best persons â an alternative term for heroes â have brought glory to the country in the global community. If we narrow down the category of which sports brought fame to Indonesia, it could be predicted that all Indonesian people would agree and say: âBadminton!â
Yes, it is our badminton players that have contributed much to Indonesiaâs outstanding global sports achievements. It was our badminton players â men and women â who have brought home gold medals and championship trophies from many tournaments: the All England (which used to be considered the unofficial world badminton championship), the Thomas Cup for the menâs group championship and the Uber Cup for the womenâs group championship, the Sudirman Cup for the mixed group championship, the World Badminton Championship and the Olympic Games.
There are a lot of badminton players who have contributed to the frequent hoisting of the Indonesian flag, an apparent display of their victories in various world-level tournaments. But only a few of them have shown consistency in their career, as can be seen from their continuing impressive performances as players for quite a long time.
Among the countryâs best badminton players are Rudy Hartono Kurniawan and Susi Susanti.
Rudy won the menâs singles title at the prestigious All-England Championship eight times: seven times consecutively (1968 to 1974) in the 1960s and 1970s, when there were no such official world championships. He grabbed the world championship title in 1980 on his only attempt at this title after the championship began in 1979.
He is one of the most famous players in the history of the sport and is considered to be one of the greatest badminton players of all time. During his active years, Rudy won menâs singles in most of the international tournaments in which he participated. He also played on six consecutive Indonesian Thomas Cup (menâs international) teams between 1967 and 1982, the first of these when he was only 17, helping Indonesia win four consecutive world team championships (1970, 1973, 1976 and 1979) in what was then a triennial event. In 1997, he was in the first group of players inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, Susi was the first Indonesian woman champion when badminton was included for the first time in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Along with Alan Budikusuma, who later became her husband, she was one of the first two Indonesian gold medalists throughout Indonesiaâs participation in the Olympic Games.
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span class="caption">Young and bold: Rudy Hartono (left) anticipates a serve from his Danish opponent, Svend Pri, in the final match of the men's singles Thomas Cup in 1973. Indonesia won the trophy after defeating Denmark 8-1. (30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka)
What comes into mind when a nation commemorates its independence day? Most likely people will say: 'Heroes'.
Why heroes? Because these people of heroic capacities were there and played significant, if not key, roles when a nation's independence was achieved.
That is the general understanding of what a hero means during wartime or a struggle for independence. The modern day definition of a hero, however, is more general and not limited to war-related activities. It is frequently defined as a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities.
It is under this category that non-military persons can be considered heroes nowadays. Of the characters and professions that might be fit to be considered as heroes, athletes are among the few.
The next question will be: Why athletes? The answer is simple. It is in this category of professionals that the country's best persons ' an alternative term for heroes ' have brought glory to the country in the global community. If we narrow down the category of which sports brought fame to Indonesia, it could be predicted that all Indonesian people would agree and say: 'Badminton!'
Yes, it is our badminton players that have contributed much to Indonesia's outstanding global sports achievements. It was our badminton players ' men and women ' who have brought home gold medals and championship trophies from many tournaments: the All England (which used to be considered the unofficial world badminton championship), the Thomas Cup for the men's group championship and the Uber Cup for the women's group championship, the Sudirman Cup for the mixed group championship, the World Badminton Championship and the Olympic Games.
There are a lot of badminton players who have contributed to the frequent hoisting of the Indonesian flag, an apparent display of their victories in various world-level tournaments. But only a few of them have shown consistency in their career, as can be seen from their continuing impressive performances as players for quite a long time.
Among the country's best badminton players are Rudy Hartono Kurniawan and Susi Susanti.
Rudy won the men's singles title at the prestigious All-England Championship eight times: seven times consecutively (1968 to 1974) in the 1960s and 1970s, when there were no such official world championships. He grabbed the world championship title in 1980 on his only attempt at this title after the championship began in 1979.
He is one of the most famous players in the history of the sport and is considered to be one of the greatest badminton players of all time. During his active years, Rudy won men's singles in most of the international tournaments in which he participated. He also played on six consecutive Indonesian Thomas Cup (men's international) teams between 1967 and 1982, the first of these when he was only 17, helping Indonesia win four consecutive world team championships (1970, 1973, 1976 and 1979) in what was then a triennial event. In 1997, he was in the first group of players inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, Susi was the first Indonesian woman champion when badminton was included for the first time in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Along with Alan Budikusuma, who later became her husband, she was one of the first two Indonesian gold medalists throughout Indonesia's participation in the Olympic Games.
Moment of glory: Female badminton player Susi Susanti waves to the cheering crowd after being awarded a gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She defeated Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea in the final match.(Bola)
Susi was the four-time champion of the All England, six-time champion of the World Cup, part of the Indonesian team that won the mixed badminton Sudirman Cup tournament in 1989, part of the Indonesian team that won the women badminton Uber Cup tournament twice in 1994 and 1996, as well as part of the Indonesian contingent that won group gold medals five times in the SEA Games in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995. All those exclude numerous international tournaments held in various countries that she won.
Both Rudy and Susi are good examples that champions are not born but made. Besides being talented, the two top badminton players have strong will and determination to win in every tournament in which they participated.
'Talent is important as it is the first asset for anyone pursuing their interests and success in whatever career they are after, but talent alone is not enough as you must train hard in order to make yourself a champion,' said Susi in a recent interview at her home in North Jakarta.
Perhaps not many people know that the successes of Rudy and Susi were part of Spartan, continuous, years-long training sessions. The fact that they had to undergo their routine, tough training at young ages, which were their golden years for their performance as athletes, did not make them regret what they had gone through in the past.
'It is natural to get bored with such routine activities, but we must have a solution for that ['¦], just focus and train hard because this is the career that we have chosen,' Rudy said in a separate interview recently.
As an illustration, Rudy, for example, made up his mind to teach himself a certain badminton stroke in order for him to master a stroke that could prove useful during his participation in tournaments, as no other players had the quality of that stroke to match him.
'In some occasions, I taught myself one stroke up to 1,000 times in a single training session,' he said.
Similarly, Susi admitted that she had to undergo tough days of training in the past in order to make her always 'ready' whenever she took part in a tournament.
'For regular training, I could spend five to six hours a day training, divided into morning and afternoon sessions. But for major tournaments, for the Olympics for example, I spent up to eight hours of training a day, divided into three to four sessions,' Susi said.
All of these, she said, had always made her 'confident' whenever she met tough opponents in every tournament she played.
'Ordinary people might think that it was easy for me to win those tournaments. In fact, I had to go through those hard times so that I was always ready in the tournaments that I participated in. It was just because I was more prepared than my opponents,' she revealed.
In a similar principle, but different tone, Rudy was of the opinion that everyone, including those pursuing their career as badminton players, must have a clear vision and target with their career of choice.
'As badminton players [selected to represent the country in international events], we are committed to training as hard as we are supposed to. But what is the point of training so hard for a long period of time if you do not win the tournaments you join?' Rudy said.
It was Rudy, who set for himself a maximum of 10 years as a active badminton player and decided to quit playing in tournaments when he was 28.
'Badminton, as other sports that require physical strength and stamina, has its golden years in which the players excel. I became a world [All England] champion for the first time in 1968 when I was 18 years old and as a human being I had reached the limit ['¦]. So, 10 years of active competition is enough,' Rudy said.
Being champions in their respective eras, they could not hide their disappointment about seeing younger players nowadays failing in various major tournaments.
'Perhaps, this is not the era for Indonesian players as it was in our time. This is the era for other countries,' Rudy said.
'It seems that our players nowadays lack a fighting spirit and aim for victories instantly, neglecting hard, long-term training,' Susi said.
But both of them were of the same opinion that Indonesia could regain its glory in badminton someday.
'There must be commitment from all parties, particularly the government, to promote and make badminton a priority,' Rudy said.
Susi, meanwhile, asked the government to pay more attention to this profession by providing a comprehensive welfare system for former players.
'As players, we have proven our nationalism by doing our best in tournaments and bringing glory to our country. We cannot be athletes forever, but we must also survive [financially] when we retire,' Susi said.
'I am among the fortunate ex-players as I have a business [together with my husband] to support my life and family. But there are former athletes who live in poor financial conditions in their old age,' she added.
Rudy, Susi and many other athletes have done their best for their beloved country. With their outstanding achievements and personal qualities, they could be considered modern day heroes.
