PBSI: Rp14bn Budget Not Sufficient for SEA Games and Olympics

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) said that the budget for the national training program (pelatnas) amounted to Rp14 billion is not adequate to finance the qualification of the 2020 Olympics for the country’s flagship sports branch.

“The budget to pass the Olympics qualification is high because each representative in an event should join 12 tournaments, even up to 25 tournaments if following Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto in Rio’s 2016 Olympics,” said Susy Susanti, as the head of training and achievement unit of PBSI, after an MoU signing on the budget of pelatnas for 2019 SEA Games and 2020 Olympics qualification in the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Jakarta, Monday.

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The requirement, according to the champion of Barcelona’s 1992 Olympics, is intended for badminton athletes whose ranking top ten of the world.

Susy said that Rp14 billion out of Rp40 billion as proposed had been reviewed and considered by the ministry’s team of verification. “We hope there will be additional budget during pelatnas, such as accommodation and vitamin for athletes,” she pinned hope.

PBSI planned to assign two players each in the men's singles, the men’s doubles, and mix-doubles for the Olympics qualification which slated to take place starting April 2019.

“But it’s impossible for us to prepare two players each in the three sectors. We hope we can send other players as an anticipative measure if there is an unexpected thing such as injury,” said.

The budget, Susy Susanti continued, is sufficient for the preparation of SEA Games 2019 only, and that PBSI had financed the training program in January 2019 using its own budget before the fund disbursement from the ministry.

ANTARA