Indonesia’s women’s badminton singles squad has suffered from years of stagnation, with players rarely blossoming at the international level, including at the Blibli Indonesia Open.

The host country last won the tournament’s women’s singles title almost two decades ago when Ellen Angelina took the crown in 2001.

However, with legend Susy Susanti installed as the Indonesian Badminton Association’s (PBSI) head of development and achievement, the country has high expectations its title drought can be ended.

Susy, who earned the job in 2016, has seemed lost for words when discussing the state of the country’s women’s singles squad. She has often repeated her apparent go-to-answer, which has become something of a cliché.

“Honestly, we have to admit that our national women’s singles players really need to work extra hard [to catch up to players from other countries]. The current player with the highest ranking is Gregoria Mariska, who is [followed by] Fitriani and Ruselli [Hartawan],” Susy, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics women’s singles gold medalist, said recently.

“In the Indonesia Open, Gregoria has the best chance to advance [to the second round] and now it depends on how strong her will is to fight,” she added.

As expected, the 2017 World Junior Championship winner Gregoria has reached the second round, where she will play former world number one Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand on Thursday.

World number 19 Gregoria advanced to the next round after thrashing another Thai, Pornpawee Chochuwoong, 21-10, 21-8, on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the tournament’s seventh seeded Ratchanok buried the dreams of another Indonesian hopeful Ruselli Hartawan 21-14, 21-14 also on Tuesday.

Playing her first round match on the second day of the tournament on Wednesday, Indonesia’s second highest ranked women’s singles player Fitriani failed to follow in Gregoria’s footsteps. Second seeded Chen Yufei of China proved too powerful for Fitriani, who bowed out after losing in straight games.

Losing the first game 21-7, the 20-year-old Fitriani changed her strategy, becoming more aggressive and playing more net shots. Unfortunately, it was not enough to defeat last year’s runner-up, with Chen taking the second game 21-19 to secure victory.

Following Susy’s many achievements, the country’s women’s singles squad now has the burden of producing another woman star to meet the public’s expectations.

In the last few years, the women’s singles players have often made headlines, not for their achievements, but rather for their early exits from high-profile tournaments.

However, Indonesia’s hopes were rekindled after Gregoria was crowned the world junior champion.

Earlier this year, positive signs were also shown by Fitriani, who won the Thailand Masters, a low level tournament, in January.

The PBSI has been looking for the best strategy to lead the women’s singles squad back to its past glory including by hiring Rionny Mainaky as the new head coach. Previously, Rionny led the Japanese national team.

The squad’s key player is handled Rionny and Minarti Timur, a former national player, who was previously the head coach.

Since Rionny joined the team in April, Ruselli said the technical aspects of her game and her physical stamina had improved

“With Rionny as the new head coach, we are fighting to catch up [to other countries]. I believe that if there is still strong will, the performance of our women’s singles players will improve,” Susy said.

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