Jakarta: The Head of Development and Achievement for the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), Rionny Mainaky, remained enthusiastic about Indonesia’s men’s badminton players despite their failure to defend the 2022 Thomas Cup in Bangkok on May 15, 2022, and the 2021 SEA Games men’s team gold medal in Vietnam on May 17, 2022.
Mainaky said that the Indonesian men’s team was not in optimal condition when they reached the Thomas Cup final against India. On the other hand, he praised the Indian team that its players were in great physical condition.
“The Indian players were at their tip-top form in the Thomas Cup final, while our players were not in good physical condition. For example, Jonatan, was having some injury on his left foot and Ginting was not in good form as well, but he kept fighting,” said Mainaky.
Indonesia lost to India 0-3 in the 2022 Thomas Cup final.
For the SEA Games, Indonesia was sending mostly young players to Vietnam, and although they were physical and technically strong, but these young players lacked mental toughness.
“Our young players seemed mentally not ready during the SEA Games men’s team event,” explained Mainaky.
At the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, the Indonesian men’s team was defeated by Thailand 2-3 in the semi-finals and only finished with a bronze medal.
Nevertheless, Mainaky stressed that failure to win the Thomas Cup and the SEA Games men’s team gold could be used as important lessons for the Indonesian men’s shuttlers.
“I hope they would be more prepared, and don’t become too relaxed or underestimate their opponents in upcoming tournaments, especially the Indonesia Masters (Jun 7, 2022 – Jun 12, 2022) and Indonesia Open (Jun 14, 2022 – Jun 19, 2022),” concluded Mainaky.
