Indonesian Badminton Body Eyes Five Golds in SEA GamesThe Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) only aims to grab five of seven gold medals at stake in the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in September, despite a demand by the National Sports Council to make a clean sweep.The PBSI official in charge of athletes development Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar said that the association was only aiming to maintain its achievement in the Brunei Darussalam SEA Games two years ago. "PBSI only aims to grab five of seven golds at stake because we realize that Malaysia, a badminton powerhouse itself, will also be intending to grab one or two golds," he was quoted by the Jakarta Post Saturday as saying. Indonesia took a total of five golds in Brunei Games: men's team, women's team, men's singles, women's singles and women's doubles. Malaysia took the mixed doubles gold while Thailand won the men's doubles gold. "We are focusing more on retaining the Thomas Cup next year, and improving our performance in the Uber Cup. But most importantly, we must maintain our (Olympic Games) success in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. We will make the Jakarta Open, starting April 21, an opportunity to recruit more youngsters to prepare them for bigger events in the future," he said. |
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