The Indonesia Badminton Association is the main federation of badminton sports which has branch offices in all regions in Indonesia. One of the branches of the Indonesia Badminton Association from the Central Papua Province on October 1-5 held a provincial level badminton championship which was attended by talented badminton athletes from various districts. There are five districts that sent their athlete contingents to compete in this championship, namely Puncak Jaya Regency, Deiyei Regency, Nabire Regency, Paniai Regency, and Mimika Regency. The participants in the competition are grouped into several competition categories ranging from children to adults, singles and doubles, and veteran athletes are also given competition branches to enliven the championship.
The Central Papua Provincial Government fully supports the steps taken by the All Indonesia Badminton Association, the Central Papua Province branch, which held the championship with the aim of providing an opportunity for prospective athletes to show the results of their training and then being able to filter several athletes who are considered worthy of being recruited for training camps. Badminton athletes from Papua have begun to show their achievements in national and international championships. The existence of examples of the success of these athletes further fuels the enthusiasm of the participants in the provincial championship which can be considered as the first step for prospective athletes to start their careers. Because it is not impossible that there will be scouting teams from several badminton clubs who will come and be interested in the abilities shown by the prospective athletes and then recruit them to be trained until they become professional athletes.
The total number of participants competing in the inter-provincial championship in Central Papua reached 420 participants. The enthusiasm of the participants to compete and fight for the championship title was also supported by the human resources who became the match equipment. Before the championship was held, there was training for both the organizing committee and also the referees on the field such as referees and match equipment. The inter-provincial championship which was held used professional standards so that it required human resources who understood how to hold a championship professionally and also the badminton rules for professionals.
The Indonesia Badminton Association of Central Papua Province hopes that the championship that was held can further increase the enthusiasm of prospective athletes and the same event will take place every year. Prospective athletes will also be more active in training to prepare themselves for the inter-provincial championship and try their best to win the title. In addition to caring about athletes, human resources behind the scenes are also considered by the main badminton sports federation in Indonesia. So that in the end badminton sports in Central Papua Province will level up and be ready to continue to hold more prestigious championships from provincial to national and even international levels in the future.
