As the National Conference of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) is happening now, let’s have a look at how Indonesian badminton talents have evolved over decades and what to expect from the soon-to-be-elected new President.
Indonesia is one of the strongest badminton forces in the world. It seems like the country never stops giving birth to world class badminton athletes. Names such as Rudy Hartono, Susi Susanti, Rexy Mainaky / Ricky Subagja, and Tontowi Ahmad / Liliyana Natsir are popular Indonesian players who are also known as badminton legends.
Interestingly, all come from different eras and different categories. Rudy was in men's singles, Susi in women's singles, Rexy/Ricky, and Tontowi/Liliyana (also known as Owi and Butet) in mixed doubles. All of them have great accomplishments that made them famous.
How could Indonesia produce so many great players? In Indonesia, badminton is one of the most popular sports, only second to football. Even in the remotest areas in the country, there is a badminton court. In the urban areas, hundreds and thousands of badminton halls can be found.
This makes the Indonesian people love badminton from a very young age. Often parents send their kids to badminton clubs if the child shows serious interest in badminton. This is where the path to becoming an athlete starts. Badminton isn’t just a sport to make people sweat, it’s a pursuit of passion.
There are many clubs in Indonesia, but badminton is concentrated on Java island. A lot of athletes who want to improve their skills and career in badminton need to go to Java. The training system there combined with human resources is one of the keys to success, especially now that it’s combined with science and technology.
The availability of qualified athletes supported with strong passion ensures that Indonesia always has a new generation of star players. However, the strengths are not evenly spread in all categories.
In the men's singles, after Rudy Hartono, there’s Liem Swie King, Icuk Sugiarto, followed by Ardy Wiranata, Alan Budikusuma, Hariyanto Arbi, Taufik Hidayat, and now Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie.
Indonesia also has a seemingly endless array of stars in men's doubles. After the era of Tjun Tjun/Johan Wahyudi there was Rexy/Ricky, Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, and now Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya and Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan.
In both men’s singles and men’s doubles there’s always Indonesian star players. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in three other categories. In the singles category, after the era of Susi Susanti and Mia Audina, Indonesia has never had a singles player who could enter the world elite. In women's doubles, there has never been an Indonesian pair who can be called a legend.
Maria Kristin was Indonesia’s hope for a while. Injuries made her unable to reach the achievements of Susi Susanti or Mia Audina had previously made. Today, hope also falls onto Gregoria Mariska. She was able to become a world junior champion in 2018. Unfortunately, when she entered the senior level, she had quite a few difficulties in reaching further. In fact, now she is not in the top 10 in the world rankings.
In women's doubles, there was once Greysia Polii/Nitya Maheswari who managed to win gold at the Asian Games in 2014. Currently, Greysia Polii is partnering with Apriani Rahayu, sitting at #8 in world rankings. The other Indonesian women’s doubles Della Destiara Harris/Rizki Amelia Pradipta are further down at #19.
In the mixed doubles category, Indonesia had Tri Kusharjanto / Minarti Timur who won silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The regeneration in the mixed double has been pretty good. After Tri Kusharjanto/Minarti Timur, there came Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir who enlivened the competition and became champions in various events. Then the baton was passed on to Tontowi Ahmad (Owi)/Liliyana Natsir (Butet) with them winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. When Butet retired, followed by Owi, their successors Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianto, shocked the world when they won the All England 2020. The next in line for mixed doubles are Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
There is still a gap between the five categories that deserves great attention from the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PP PBSI). As of now, on November 5-6th 2020, the badminton organization will elect a new president. The chosen figure must also think about continuing the achievements done and the player’s and organization’s regeneration. The goal is that Indonesia can also succeed in all categories, not just men's singles and men's doubles.
