Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Two world champion crowns, Sudirman Cup championship runner-up, seven gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games and seven Super Series titles were achievements of the national shuttlers in 2007.
While the results seem more than OK, they show Indonesia is losing its grip in a sport we once dominated.
Compare the results to badminton powerhouse China and our achievements mean nothing. Chinese shuttlers -- both the stars and the rising stars -- have dominated the entire Super Series tournament, winning a bulky 38 of the 60 titles on offer.
China also retained the Sudirman Cup this year and won three titles in the World Championships.
Neighbor Malaysia's results were similar to Indonesia's in the newly introduced Super Series tournament winning 8 titles, but in the more prestigious events they fell short.
While other countries -- especially China -- fielded their juniors in international events, the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) relied on old hands, like men's singles Taufik Hidayat, now 26, mixed doubles specialist Nova Widianto, 31 and Flandy Limpele, 33.
Nova retained his world cup crown with partner Lilyana Natsir in August in Kuala Lumpur. They won the 2001 title in Anaheim. While Flandy gave a so-so performance with Vita Marissa, they only won two mixed doubles titles at the Super Series in China and France.
The decision to enter old hands in the recent SEA Games in Thailand helped Indonesia to jack-up its position from fifth to fourth.
The national shuttlers took advantage of the absence of Malaysian stars, like men's singles Lee Chong Wei, women's singles Wong Mee Chow and men's doubles Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, to make a clean sweep of the seven gold medals on offer.
When the World Badminton Federation announced that starting January 2007 it would change the format of regular tournaments to Super Series tournaments comprising 12 events each with a US$250,000 cash prize, Indonesia had high hopes.
But, alas, their hopes were not met.
Our men's singles were helpless in the Super Series, winning nothing. Taufik has been dealing with knee problems and while he claimed he was okay, he did not win a single title at this year's Super Series. He did, however, win the Asian Badminton Championships and SEA Games gold medals, both in individual and team events.
His poor performance has made people doubt his ability to retain his Olympic crown with Chinese nemesis Lin Dan hoping to steal it before his home crowd in Beijing next August.
With national sporting achievements below par, badminton is Indonesia's biggest hope on the international stage. While the titles gained in 2007 may reflect a substantial achievement some experts have said the players were just lucky.
Indonesian badminton has been going through a flop in the last few years and PBSI must address this issue more seriously to keep its achievements on the radar.
Like other sports, badminton is losing its attractiveness. Very few parents allow their children to join clubs and spend leisure time practicing, while potentially sacrificing their studies to join competitions in other areas.
In general, parents prefer children to study Mathematics and English as these will decide a students' passing grade in the controversial National Final Exams, but Badminton trophies and medals will not.
Badminton is the country's third most popular sport, but without extra efforts to promote and develop it, especially in clubs and high schools, it will be difficult for PBSI to find new talent.
With the Beijing Olympics is just eight months away, can PBSI be sure athletes will focus their training on the quadrennial event? Badminton has consistently rewarded Indonesia with Olympic gold since it officially entered the games in 1992.
The first temptation will be the National Games (PON) in July 2008 in East Kalimantan. The standards are getting tougher with PON shifting its objectives, now looking to find the best athletes at an international level.
A month ahead of the PON, we can expect to see Taufik representing West Java in a finals against Sony Dwi Kuncoro, this year's world championship runner-up, from East Java.
Unless PBSI can stop these provinces fielding athletes being groomed for the Olympics (with promised cash bonuses), they will be putting Indonesia's Olympic badminton hopes at risk.
Another issue is the improvement of the quality our coaches' teaching methods. Most badminton coaches are former players but need to upgrade their knowledge, especially in setting training programs and analyzing match results. Many have been reluctant to join seminars and workshops to learn new skills because they believe they can rely on skills learned during their heyday.
Besides the Olympics, we also face the Thomas and Uber Cup championships next year in Jakarta.
The last time we won the Thomas Cup men's team event was in 2002 in Guangzhou, with Hendrawan, now men's singles coach, as the national hero in a 3-2 victory over host China. Since then, China has consistently been victorious in the biennial event.
As for the Uber Cup, no countries are likely to demolish the Chinese girls domination they have maintained for a decade.
The rest essentially lies in the hands of PBSI, which will decide its priorities for the sport next year.
