The Badminton Association of Indonesia, PBSI, has finally elected a new president. Agung Firman Sampurna, a candidate with a background as a state official, was elected as the number one person for the 2020-2024 term. He is the sole candidate for president of PP PBSI with a total of 23 letters of support from the provincial administrators.
Sampurna replaces Wiranto, who has resigned from his position as President of PP PBSI for the 2016-2020 term. In his first remarks as the elected president, Sampurna expressed his gratitude to Wiranto for the hard work that he has brought to bringing greater achievements to PBSI and making sure PBSI continues to exist while making changes and improvements to the organization. The man who was born in Madiun, East Java on 19 November 1971 stated that he would protect and continue Wiranto's achievements at PBSI in the upcoming future.
In his remarks, he believed that in the last four years PBSI has made various improvements, both national and international. However, he wants to bring PBSI even further under his governance.
He has thanked everyone profusely for the trust that has been given to him. Sampurna, who is also an Indonesian state official, has 30 days to prepare the recruitment for the PBSI management for the 2020-2024 period. He wants the board members to be active, professional and have the opportunity to contribute to bringing Indonesian badminton to the top of their achievements.
Sampurna also has a mission to invite more people to play badminton, get involved in managing and increasing Indonesia’s achievement and the spirit of national unity through the development of badminton organizations. Having greater achievements is the main tool to unite and to show people that badminton has a selling value. Sampurna wants people to see badminton not only as a sport but also as an industry.
Meanwhile, the vision includes a better financial governance that is more transparent, accountable, and supports badminton performance. There will be a public accountant who monitors the amount and source of incoming funds as well as what the funds are going to be used, to make sure there is no conflict of interest. Empowerment of provincial administrators is also a priority. Sampurna wants all provincial officials to have badminton centres for badminton coaching facilities in every region. The new sponsorship structure and financial support will provide space for PBSI to develop itself with funding towards financial independence so that it can truly be managed professionally.
He will also focus on the conditions of athlete development, from the recruitment system for athletes and coaches to competition management. A solid athlete development combined with innovation in getting more people involved in badminton is how badminton will develop into a sport entertainment industry.
These are strong visions and missions. PBSI needs solid funding, and is mostly needed to send athletes abroad for training as well as competitions. Currently, PBSI’s funding mostly comes from a company that also owns a prestigious badminton club. The plan to obtain fundings from more sponsors hopefully can reduce PBSI’s dependence only on one company.
Another thing to work on is how badminton is still concentrated in Java island where the clubs with considerably the best coaching system exist. It’s Sampurna’s intention and spirit to try to leverage badminton further and more evenly across the country. It will take a lot of struggle and effort but it’s not impossible.
Badminton Asia welcomes the election of Agung as the new president. With his vision and mission for the next four years, we hope that Indonesian badminton can be even more solid. We are looking forward to a stronger Indonesian badminton team that will maintain Asia’s dominance in world badminton.
