Jakarta: Similar to other sports, physical fitness is very important for success in badminton.
Hendra Setiawan and 12 other senior men’s doubles players from the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), together with Greysia Polii and Jesita Putri Miantoro from the Indonesian women’s doubles department, underwent a series of fitness tests on Monday.
The tests were supervised by PBSI men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi. Those tests included the Medicine Ball Test, Core Test, Court Agility Test, RAST Test, Vertical Jump Test, and Bleep Test/Beep Test.
“I have not seen the results in detail yet, but from a glimpse of this initial test, I think the results were acceptable,” said Herry Iman Pierngadi.
“They seemed to have met the minimum requirement. But that’s not enough, there’s still a lot that needs to be improved. At least one or two athletes have not met the standard because of their leg problems,” added Pierngadi.
According to Pierngadi, this physical test is an initial assessment to set up customized programs that will be used to train those players.
“We will set up personalized training programs according to their test results. I hope they will achieve better results in the next test,” explained Pierngadi.
“We plan to do a physical test every three or four months to continue measuring the physical condition of the shuttlers,” continued Pierngadi.
Meanwhile, the World No. 2 men’s doubles player, Hendra Setiawan, admitted that this physical fitness test was very helpful for him.
“In my opinion, this physical test was good, it allowed me to find out about my physical strength, especially at this age,” said Setiawan.
“I didn’t face any problems during the test and I am quite satisfied with the results. Hopefully, I can get better in the next test,” added Setiawan, the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medalist.
With the completion of the physical test for the men’s doubles team, the results will be evaluated and will be used as a reference for the preparation of future training programs.