Source:REUTERS/Chris Radburn
[Saba Sports News] Taufik Hidayat, the first vice president of the Indonesian Badminton Association, revealed that the association has changed its athlete promotion plan this season. If a player’s performance does not improve, they may be directly expelled from the national team. Previously, the association would take a year to patiently observe an athlete before making an expulsion decision. Taufik stated that athletes selected for the Indonesian national badminton team must make full use of the existing facilities during training and improve their competition results through hard work. As of the 2025 season, the Indonesian national team has not won any significant championships, with their only title being the Thailand Super 300 Masters. Indonesian players have lost in all competitions at the Super 1000 level, such as the Malaysia Open and the All England Open. In this regard, some fans expressed that athletes not selected for the national team have to find their own training venues, practice partners, coaches, and book hotels, solving their own competition schedules and registrations. In contrast, national team players only need to worry about their meals. With such a favorable environment, fans do not understand why their performance is so poor.