Youngsters seek to carry on badminton legacy

JAKARTA－Thirteen-year-old Muhammad Zylan Febrian is fighting tooth and nail to realize his dream of playing badminton for Indonesia in the world arena in the future.

For more than four years, Febrian has been playing badminton, in the hope that he would be called up to Indonesia's national badminton team.

Badminton is a popular sport in Indonesia. Clubs and academies for the sport can be found in all regions of the Southeast Asian country, and matches are also held routinely in the country.

Febrian planned to become a badminton player after joining a club located in the eastern part of Jakarta in 2018, when Indonesia hosted the 18th Asian Games, in which Febrian's favorite national athlete, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, helped the Indonesian team win the silver medal in the men's team event.

Febrian is currently being trained three days a week at PB Raya badminton club, which was jointly founded by Achmad Rivai, a former national athlete, and two friends in 2013.

He also conducts self-training at home in the southern part of the capital city.

"The sports center is about 30 minutes away from home. My parents always take me there and watch me practicing," says Febrian, who is also a junior high school student.

Despite no wins for him in all formal matches he has gone through so far, Febrian always tells himself to keep up his strength training.

Febrian, who idolizes China's retired badminton player Lin Dan, says he wishes to go international and play matches in China someday.

Another junior badminton player at PB Raya, Cheisha Regustine Irmawati, says she hopes to become a national athlete although she is aware she does not have a good chance of success.

The 16-year-old had been in clubs for more than two years before joining PB Raya in February.

Her coach Ndaru Abrianto, a co-founder of the club, says big clubs in Indonesia tend to recruit players in their middle childhood.

"The competition within the circle of professional badminton players in Indonesia is getting much tighter now. Some even start playing at as early as 6 years old," Abrianto says.

He adds that some young players choose home-schooling education in a bid to have more time for practice and training.

The PB Raya club has seen an increase in its membership after Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won their first ever Olympic gold in badminton women's doubles in Tokyo this summer.

"The number of members in our club, which was previously about 20, has increased to 60 within one month," says Abrianto.

"Parents (have) registered their kids here, because their kids want to be like their idols."

Rivai says the enthusiasm for badminton in Indonesia, home to some 270 million people, is huge as more people are becoming aware that Indonesia has made achievements in prestigious badminton competitions.

"These have made kids nowadays motivated to become athletes," he says.

Rivai says PB Raya, as a medium-sized club, is aiming to deliver more qualified players to be recruited by the national team or big clubs.

He says he is grateful to the Indonesian government, the Badminton Association of Indonesia and major badminton clubs, like PB Djarum, who have provided support to smaller clubs and have been actively seeking new talented players nationwide through competitions they organize.

"It is important to keep preparing potential successors of the senior and junior athletes so that we can keep team Indonesia at the highest podium."

Xinhua