Badminton Association of Indonesia is Electing a New President
Tomorrow, starting November 5th, the Badminton Association of Indonesia or abbreviated as PBSI will hold their 2-days National Conference in Tangerang, in which they will elect a new President for the 2020-2024 period.
PBSI is no longer young. This year, the organization is 69 years old. It was founded on May 5, 1951, to unite multiple badminton associations in Indonesia at that time.
It didn't take long for PBSI to make the nation proud. Indonesia became the Thomas Cup champions in 1958. It only took 7 years since PBSI was founded for Indonesia to be crowned. In fact, until now, Indonesia has won the most titles with a record 13 times. In the Uber Cup, the title has also been won, although not as much as the Thomas Cup, with the women’s teams winning 3 times.
Likewise in their individual players, PBSI can produce many world champions. Not just in one category, but in all five: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. The Indonesia Raya, Indonesia's national anthem, was already playing when the first World Championship was held in 1977 in Malmo, Sweden, through the men's doubles pair Tjun Tjun/Johan Wahyudi. After that, many Indonesian world champions were born.
The glory continued in the first Olympics where badminton was officially included as an Olympic sport: Barcelona 1992 Olympics. Indonesia immediately won two gold medals through Alan Budikusuma in the men's singles and Susi Susanti in the women's singles; the couple who would later become husband and wife. After that, the Indonesian representing athletes have always won gold. It was only at the London 2012 Olympics where Indonesia did not win a single medal.
This series of achievements cannot be separated from the figure of the President of PBSI. They are the regulator of all organizational activities, including the pursuit of achievements. Since 1951, there have been 13 people who have been the number one in PBSI. Starting from Rochdi Partaatmadja, Sudirman, Sukamto Sayidiman, Padmo Sumasto, Sudirman, Ferry Sonneville, Try Sutrisno, Soerjadi, Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo, Chairul Tanjung, Sutiyoso, Djoko Santoso, Gita Wirjawan, and Wiranto.
All of them have been able to carve their name as the successor to the glory of Indonesian badminton. The same expectations of course are also placed on the shoulders of the new President. There are two candidates in the running to replace Wiranto: Ari Wibowo and Agung Firman Sampurna. The backgrounds of the two candidates are different. Ari Wibowo is the General Chairman of the PBSI Banten Province Chapter. Meanwhile, Agung Firman Sampurna is the Chairman of the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK), an institution that checks the traffic of state finances.
When interviewed, both candidates have already prepared their vision and mission should they be elected as the President of PBSI, which we will depict in a follow-up article after the new president is elected.
Whoever will be elected later, has a tough task that awaits. He is expected to be able to maintain the tradition of winning and maintaining the prestige of Indonesian badminton in a world where other countries' badminton is developing greatly.
