Awaited, New Formula After Sudirman Cup

The Sudirman Cup, a symbol of supremacy in the mixed team world badminton championship, has been claimed by China for the 14th time. Indonesia must wait at least another two years to bring home the trophy, relying on the momentum from the 2025 Sudirman Cup.

The competition featuring 16 teams from various confederations in Xiamen, China, from April 27 to May 4, resulted in China being crowned the best team after defeating South Korea in the final. Indonesia and Japan shared the third position after being eliminated in the semifinals.

Among various team championships, the Sudirman Cup serves as an indicator to assess the overall strength of each country as it competes in all events. The champion team, in essence, is one that possesses balanced strength across men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles events.

China demonstrated its strength even though the journey in Xiamen was not as perfect as in Beijing 2005 and Guangzhou 2009 when it became champion without losing a single match.

In Xiamen, China lost in the women's singles against Thailand during the group stage and when facing South Korea in the final. However, China's strength remains more evenly distributed compared to all teams. Shi Yu Qi and his teammates defeated South Korea, who also had significant chances to win the championship.

South Korea has the world's best women's singles player, An Se-young, and top doubles players. However, they were unable to sustain their victory in six matches, from the group stage to the final, to become the world's best team.

Indonesia once again failed to add its only title obtained in the inaugural edition in Jakarta 1989. Nevertheless, the semifinal achieved by Jonatan Christie and his teammates in Xiamen is a fairly significant result.

The bronze medal achieved by the "Merah Putih" squad is a realistic best result considering that Indonesian badminton has fallen behind other countries, at least in the last 1.5 years.

Indonesia failed to secure a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics and lost to China in the Thomas Cup final in the same year. In the competition of the BWF World Tour tournaments (Super 300, 500, 750, and 1000) in 2024, Indonesian athletes only achieved 12 titles, falling short of China (53 titles), Japan (16), South Korea (14), and Denmark and Thailand, each with 13 titles.

From the eight BWF World Tour tournaments that have been held in 2025, prior to the Sudirman Cup, Indonesia has only secured one championship title from the lowest level (Super 300). This title was achieved by the women's doubles pair, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti/Lanny Tria Mayasari, at the Thailand Masters.

Top athletes such as Jonatan and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto failed to defend their All England title. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting suffered from a right shoulder injury that limited him to participating in only one tournament at the beginning of the year.

Anthony was also absent from the Sudirman Cup. Similarly, men's doubles player Leo Rolly Carnando, who has a left knee injury, and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (ill) were also unable to participate. The cancellation of Leo and Gregoria's participation was made about a week before the start of the Sudirman Cup.

Based on the situation, the semifinal reached by the "Merah Putih" team is a positive outcome. The players deployed demonstrated high fighting spirit and showcased their best abilities when facing the strength of South Korea in the semifinal.

In a situation where Indonesia was trailing 1-2, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana made the score 2-2 by thwarting the match point of All England champions, Seo Seung-jae/Kim Won-ho.

Fadia, who has previously competed in mixed doubles, appeared again alongside Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi in the fifth match. Although they ultimately lost, they put up a fight for one hour and 31 minutes against the women's doubles ranked third in the world, who are the champions of All England 2024, Lee So-hee/Baek Ha-na.

Alwi and Putri Kusuma Wardani received attention from former English badminton player, Gillian Clark, who served as a commentator for the BWF tournament. Alwi defeated the world number three in men's singles, Anders Antonsen, during Indonesia's match against Denmark in the battle for the Group D championship position.

Putri defeated Pusarla V Sindhu (India) and Pornpawee Chochuwong (Thailand), respectively, in two games. The victory over Chochuwong was achieved after Indonesia was trailing 0-1 against Thailand in the quarter-finals. This also marked Putri's first win against the world number six in women's singles after having lost in all eight previous matches.

Only from An Se-young, Putri lost four of her matches during her time in Xiamen, and she undertook this as the first women's singles player of the Indonesian team in the absence of Gregoria.

Putri's performance against Sindhu and Chochuwong, Alwi's victory over Antonsen, and the struggle of Fikri/Bagas to extend the team's breath in the semifinals became some positive moments for Indonesia in the 2025 Sudirman Cup.

The four of them, along with Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo and Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah, were entrusted to compete, alternating with the seniors, Jonatan and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. What was demonstrated by Putri, Alwi, and their teammates serves as a seed that must be nurtured for their own progress and for badminton in Indonesia.

Alwi is determined to bring the experience from the Sudirman Cup to the challenges he will face. "When playing in team championships, I really enjoyed it. I must also be able to enjoy every moment in individual tournaments just as I did when playing in team events. Moreover, the experience of meeting top world players has opened my eyes to my strengths, weaknesses, and needs moving forward," said Alwi, who will continue his duties after the Sudirman Cup at the Taiwan Open Super 300 tournament from May 6 to 11.

Putri also has notes for herself after performing for a week in Xiamen. "The experience at the Sudirman Cup is an experience that I cannot buy. I will strive to bring the consistency of my performance at the Sudirman to individual tournaments while improving my shortcomings," said Putri.

Their determination and motivation from the Sudirman Cup must align with PBSI's responsibility in supporting athletes with the significant target of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. The Head of Development and Achievement Division of PP PBSI, Eng Hian, stated that an evaluation will be conducted to determine the programs that need to be implemented promptly to ensure the performance and achievements of young athletes continue to improve. Moreover, Eng Hian is counting on Putri and her teammates to bring the Sudirman Cup back to their homeland in the next two years.

In addition, the performance gap between senior athletes and their successors in most events is quite significant. After Jonatan and Anthony, there is Alwi as their potential successor, alongside the declining performance of Chico Dwi Wardoyo. However, Alwi is still at the beginning of a more competitive rivalry compared to when he competed at the junior level two years ago.

Like the experience of many athletes, the transition period from junior to senior is a very challenging time. During this transition, athletes begin to compete against opponents who are more experienced from the early rounds and often have to compete from the qualifying stages. Therefore, mental resilience is essential when frequently facing elimination in the early rounds.

A significant disparity in achievements among athletes is also evident in the men's doubles category, a discipline where the regeneration of performance has never ceased. For instance, Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan have two successor pairs with equal capabilities, namely Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Fajar/Rian.

Under Fajar/Rian, after Kevin/Marcus retired, there is the generation of Fikri, Bagas, Daniel, and Leo Rolly Carnando. Fajar/Rian even had three pairs of successors with the presence of Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan, before Pramudya moved to Australia to study and play badminton again.

However, as stated by Eng Hian, there is a considerable gap between Fikri/Daniel and Leo/Bagas and the generation below them. Yeremia, who was eventually paired with the young player Rahmat Hidayat, is still struggling to perform consistently, even at the Super 100 level. Meanwhile, the players below Yeremia/Rahmat are at the primary level, which still requires a significant amount of time (possibly during one term of PBSI management) to enter the BWF World Tour competition.

With this gap, former athlete and coach Christian Hadinata stated that it is difficult to implement a program to "attract" young players by pairing them with Fajar or Rian, whose performance has begun to decline in top-level competition. Christian mentioned that pairing senior and young athletes with a significant ability gap will make it challenging for young players to adapt.

"Creating new pairs by matching senior athletes, such as Fajar or Rian, with younger athletes can be done if their abilities are not too far apart," said Christian, who has experience in producing world and Olympic champion men's doubles.

The situation is not much different for the women's doubles and mixed doubles. Eng Hian even stated that the events he once led do not yet have athletes with the adequate skills to consistently compete at the Super 500 level and above. Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi, who have been paired since 2019 and currently hold the eighth position in the world ranking, are still struggling to reach the quarter-finals of Super 750 and 1000 tournaments.

Based on the world ranking, the mixed doubles category could actually place at least four pairs in the Super 750 and 1000 tournaments, and even more for the lower levels. However, there are no pairs that possess the same level of ability as players ranked in the top ten in the world, including Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, who became the junior world champions in 2017 and continued their partnership at the senior level.

At the Sudirman Cup, the mixed doubles only contributed one victory from five matches despite fielding four different formations. That one victory was achieved with great difficulty against England, whose strength is below that of Indonesia.

The hope of seeing a new star in mixed doubles lies with the youngest pair in the main national training center, Jafar Hidayatullah/Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu, amidst the stagnation of the senior players' performances. Their fearless attitude when facing experienced opponents has brought them to the semifinals of the Asian Championship.

With a current world ranking of 20, Jafar/Felisha have become the number one mixed doubles pair in Indonesia. However, this has not made them complacent.

"For us, having a high ranking must be in line with achievements. One should not become the number one mixed doubles team merely because of frequent tournament participation," said Felisha.

The couple, aged 22 and 19, is also determined to perform consistently in every tournament. "What is more important for us is consistency. After achieving good results in one championship, we must not decline in the next championship," said Jafar, after the Asian Championship in April.

Eng Hian stated that the women's doubles and mixed doubles sectors of the national training center must enhance their training and tournament programs. Another approach is to seek a new formula that has not yet been detailed. However, the first year of the PBSI administration for 2024-2028 is being utilized by the women's doubles sector to restructure partnerships in order to find potential pairings.

The enhancement of programs, new formulas, or other initiatives is what is currently awaited from PBSI to address all shortcomings. Additionally, it aims to capitalize on the positive moments from the Sudirman Cup.