The idea is that background checks would strengthen efforts to monitor players and avoid match-fixing.

“We are mulling [options] right now, including the possibility to expand our role during the registration to badminton tournaments. We need to act immediately, as this will seriously taint our reputation,’ PBSI spokesman Broto Happy told The Jakarta Post recently.

However, Broto also said that the PBSI would need the BWF to tighten regulations, such as by increasing rank requirements for low-key tournaments, so that not all players would be able to participate in those tournaments.

This, he added, would be an effective way to screen players and keep out those with ulterior motives.

He acknowledged that the PBSI, in the past, would simply assist players looking to participate in tournaments and was not authorized to do checks and rechecks on a player’s background.

“Usually we only serve them, the players, whenever they want to join a tournament. We help them during the registration process,” he said.

The BWF found eight Indonesian shuttlers – Hendra Tandjaya, Ivandi Danang, Androw Yunanto, Sekartaji Putri, Mia Mawarti, Fadilla Afni, Aditiya Dwiantoro and Agrippina Prima Rahmanto Putra – guilty of match-fixing in several regional tournaments.

Hendra, Ivandi and Androw have been banned for life from badminton tournaments at any level, as they were found to be the masterminds. Sekartaji Putri, meanwhile, was banned from the sport for 12 years and fined US$12,000. Mia Mawarti and Fadilla Afni were banned for 10 years from the sport and fined $10,000.

Aditiya was banned for seven years and fined $7,000, while Agrippina was banned for six years and fined $3,000.

Read also: Indonesian shuttler to appeal BWF’s match-fixing suspension

Agrippina insisted that he had not received any money from the ill practice. His only fault, he added, was never to have reported attempted match-fixing by Hendra Tandjaya to the BWF.

“The BWF apparently searched for names through Hendra’s phone during the probe and found me. But I turned down Hendra’s offer and never received the money. But they consider me guilty as I should have reported that offer to the BWF,” Agrippina said on his YouTube channel recently.

The BWF said that, according to its investigation completed in December last year, the players had agreed to manipulate match scores in return for money. These players have been deemed to have severely violated sportsmanship, a value to be upheld by any sport organizations.

The BWF has asked the suspected players to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of the announcement if they think they are innocent in this case.

“At first, some of them wanted to file for an appeal, but then they backed off after learning that they would have to pay to file for the appeal with the CAS,” Broto said.

The PBSI, he added, could not provide any financial assistance for the players who wanted to file for an appeal, as they were personal cases.

Commenting on the PBSI’s role, the head of the Indonesian Sports Science Professors Association, Djoko Pekik Irianto, said that, aside from the current advocacy provided to players, the PBSI should be able to seize the momentum and organize an internal consolidation, warn all stakeholders, primarily coaches, officials and athletes, to pay serious attention to avoid ill practices.

“All stakeholders must be reminded all over again why they want to do the sport in the first place and how important it is for them to maintain sportsmanship while being engaged in the sport,” he said.

He said, a total reorientation was needed. Coaches should not only provide training, both physical and technical, but also campaign on the need for good character and sportsmanship.

As for the suspected players, he went on, it would be great for the PBSI to invite them to participate in a series of psychological therapy sessions that could help them restore their confidence and rebuild motivation.