“The important thing is to see these young athletes play in a tournament. They are improving and exceeded our initial target. Some of the players have been able to compete in 10 different games,” Yoppy said as quoted from a press statement received by The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Yoppy said right now, a team of coaches was evaluating the players who would be prepared for future roles in the doubles and singles categories.

“The same team will also be preparing special training for the group category, with highlights on how to cope with pressure during the matches,” he said.

The 2020 PB Djarum League ran from Dec.7 to 13 at the Jati Sports Center, which is owned by the club PB Djarum, in Kudus, Central Java. This was the second internal tournament held by the club. Beforehand, in July, an internal tournament with the same name was also held there.

Echoing Yoppy, team manager Fung Permadi also praised the young shuttlers for their struggle and resilience. He said during the two-internal leagues, the coaches had seen improvements in their student-athletes’ skills.

“They have been able to show us what they are capable of, including growing their emotional maturity, which they will desperately need during tournaments. One last thing to do, they all need to maintain these skills in the future,” he said.

Fung, a living badminton legend himself, said the results of the league would be treated as substantial material for the coaches in order to improve their coaching methods for student-athletes.

“There are bulks of updates on the level of each of our participating student-athletes. We need to adjust and create more challenges so that will be able to encourage them to grow further as athletes.”

The week-long 2020 PB Djarum League was completed with two group champions and 15 single category champions. The two group champions were the Krapyak Men’s Group Team and the Kaliyetno Women’s Group Team.

The men’s single-category champions were, among others, Nazwan Abdillah, who secured the men’s singles for ages 11 to 13; M. Afiq Dzakwan Arief for the age 15 category, Muhammad Faqih Anshori, who participated under the age 17 category; and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, champion of the ages 19 and adult category.

The women’s singles champions were, among others, Jolin Angelia in the ages 11 to 13 category, Sausan Dwi Ramadhani for the age 15 category and Ruzana, who secured the ages 17, 19 and adult category.

Commenting on the results, Yoppy said the organizer had intended to hold the same league next year, just before the Idul Fitri celebration, providing the stages for young athletes to continue sharpening their skills and experiences.

“With one important note: we are still lacking proper competitions during the January to May next year. We need to gradually challenge our young athletes so they can improve themselves,” he said.

Badminton is among the sports that have been hardly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many badminton tournaments, both local and international, were either postponed or shut down over health concerns.

Questions on how athletes, especially young newcomers, can practice for future tournaments have been discussed and as a result, big clubs like PB Djarum decided to organize internal leagues in order to provide opportunities for young athletes to keep training and improving.