Recently, I visited Indonesia as part of the BWF panel in my capacity as an official badminton photographer for the BWF – I covered the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2020, held from 14th – 19th January 2020 at Istora Senayan, Jakarta.

The thrill and sheer joy of watching and learning from live matches is just amazing. The Indonesians, Greysia Polli and Apriyani Rahayu played amazingly well to defeat the Danish team and win their biggest title (Women’s Doubles) in Indonesia. The Minions (Kevin Sanjaya Sukamolyo & Marcus Fernaldi Gideon) too had their way in the Mens Doubles finals defeating The Daddies (Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan) for the 10th time in a row. After recovering through a painful injury (that occurred on the same court at the same venue in the past year) Carolin Marin played an excellent final against Ratchanok Intanon. It was mesmerizing to watch Intanon play some fine strokes at the net eventually leading to her first title in nine months. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting made the day for Indonesian fans after winning the Mens Singles title. And yes, though I wished to watch him play a few years ago, it was equally exciting to watch even now – the favourite Lin Dan.

Indonesia has an immense fan following for the sport of badminton. Well, one can say, what Cricket is to India, Badminton is to Indonesia. Indonesia dominated the world of badminton back in the 90s and early 2000s and even to this day produces some of the best badminton players in the world. Badminton being the highest played sport in Indonesia and with its history of champions over the years such as Taufik Hidayat, Liliyana Natsir, Susi Susanti, Mohammad Ahsan, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamolyo, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, Markis Kido etc. and some of the best academies like Djarum academy and Jaya Raya academy, is a haven for badminton lovers. Hence I spent the following week at these academies to learn more about the vast badminton culture in Indonesia and how Indonesia managed to create spectacular players.

At Djarum Academy, I had the opportunity to meet the former champion, Mr. Christian Hadinata. As a player, Christian Hadinata reached the final of the prestigious All England singles in 1973. After he stepped off the court, Christian Hadinata went ahead to coach some of the best teams of Indonesia. I was also able to spend time & interact with the players at the Djarum badminton academy; participate with the them during their training sessions and understand their routines better.

Followed by this, I was able to practice and witness the training sessions at P B Jaya Raya Academy and have the amazing chance to spar with Mr Bambang Suprianto, another great name in the history of badminton – winner of the 1994 All England Mens Doubles Championship. In fact, Indonesian practice sessions are a theatre of ridiculous talent. Their doubles players seem to believe that tournaments are won not by screwed-eyes concentration and tyranny of geometry, but by gentle inflections in the wrists and elbows and shoulders while playing the fool all the time. Overall it was an excellent experience spending my time amongst one of the finest academies & players and learning all that revolves around the badminton culture in Indonesia.

 

Jnanesh Salian

Head Coach (Golden Shuttle Academy)