Talents scouts head to Milo event

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 06/18/2008 10:44 AM | Sports

The eighth edition of the Milo school badminton championship will begin next week with the hope of identifying future stars.

The event, which will involve as many as 1,500 elementary and junior high schools, will be held in three cities, beginning with Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, which will host the first leg from June 23 to 26.

The competition will carry on to Surakarta, Central Java, from July 17 to 20, and Bandung, West Java, from July 28 to 31.

A total of 12 championship cups, which are named after Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat, and 108 medals will be at stake.

Welih Sutidjan, an official with the organizing committee, said the annual competition aimed to identify talented young stars who could someday take their places on the national team.

"I hope that many promising shuttlers will emerge from this tournament and later join the national training center," he said during a media conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He said the Milo championship has already helped several players move on to the national team.

"For instance, Tommy Sugiarto. He won the championship in 2003," he said, referring to the youngest member of the Indonesian team at last month's Thomas Cup men's team championship, although Tommy did not play a match in the event.

Febby Angguni, who won the Milo women's singles title in 2004, is now at the national training camp.

A coaching clinic by Taufik Hidayat will be held during the competition.

"I hope there will be a lot of children who are enthusiastic about playing badminton, just like in previous tournaments," Welih, who is the marketing manager for Nestle Indonesia, said, adding that the event had featured around 21,000 children since first being held in 2002.

Lius Pongoh, an official with the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), said the association still had trouble identifying young talent, especially outside Jakarta.

"I hope such tournaments will be held outside the capital more frequently to accommodate talented young players," said Lius, who is in charge of player development with PBSI.

PBSI is currently preparing junior players for the 2010 Junior Olympics in Singapore. "The goal is that our young players will win at the Olympics," he said. (ewd)

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