SOUTH Korea’s surprise 3-0 drubbing of Indonesia in the semifinal of the recently concluded Thomas Cup in Jakarta brings to a close a brilliant era of 50 years of Indonesian badminton supremacy.

Indonesia’s domination of the sport started in the late 1950s, and what a galaxy of shuttle stars the nation produced — Ferry Sonnyville, Rudy Hartono, Liem Swee King, Icuk Sugiarto, Alan Budi Kusuma, Rexy Mainaky, Ricky Subagja and Taufik Hidayat.

The Indonesians elevated the singles and doubles game to new heights with their speed and power, and many of their rivals scrambled to catch up.

Their training programme was as creative as it was secretive and only one outsider –Prakash Padukone — was inducted into their coaching scheme. brought about by a goodwill agreement between President Suharto and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

So excellent was the programme that Prakash, after just six months, became a world beater — winning the All-England and other championships in the 1980s.

Indonesia’s downturn began with the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the fall of Suharto, under whom badminton enjoyed special patronage.

Since 2000, Indonesia’s slide has become more pronounced. Unless new efforts are made, Indonesia’s further decline is inevitable. This is bad news for badminton, which is losing popularity and the Badminton World Federation (BWF) needs to act fast.

There are hardly any tournaments being held in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East or even in the Indian sub-continent or Australia. Badminton has now become narrowly confined to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Denmark, and this does not augur well for the sport. Despite changes in the scoring and points system, badminton has fewer sponsors, advertisers and fans.

There is also no competition to host the Thomas Cup in 2010 — Malaysia was the only bidder.

The internal squabbles in the BWF, whereby Punch Gunalan was ousted recently, only worsen the situation.

Even among the badminton powers, the situation is less than rosy. China was once reputed to have an inexhaustible reservoir of shuttlers but this has not materialised, as can be judged by the low turnover rate of the players.

South Korean badminton received a massive boost from the Seoul Olympics but how long they can sustain this is anybody’s guess.

In Malaysia, despite large investments by the government, the rewards have been few and far between. With the retirement of Lee Chong Wei, Wong Choon Han and Hafiz Hashim in future, badminton is expected to take a nosedive as equal replacements are hard to come by.

In Denmark, badminton has been kept alive by the strong club tradition but fewer top-class players are being produced today. There is increasing competition from football and tennis as they are more lucrative.

The BWF needs to start an intensive global programme to popularise the sport to ensure it does not fade into oblivion. Having an academy to train players, officials and coaches; an international university tournament yearly; sourcing for funds and sponsorships; and creating a good artificial shuttlecock are but a few ways to ensure that badminton will be a sport with a promising future.

V. THOMAS, Sungai Buloh

Source: NST – May 26, 2008