WORLD MASTERS GAMES Team – Heroes never die!

The World Masters Games kicked off in Auckland, New Zealand. Amongst the other sports, badminton drew a lot of former stars with the team competition already under way.

Story and photos by Lim Kai (live)

Heroes never die…they just retire to their forest dwellings until the badminton world calls upon them once more. And when the World Masters Games issued a call to racquets, many former pros around the world responded in kind.

Among the various warriors who answered the call, a few names stood out. Former Olympic champion, Tony Gunawan, and former All England Champion Harijanto Arbi were part of the team Musica Flypower, headed by Effendy Widjaja. Just as Effendy had found success earlier this year in Djarum Superliga with the younger men’s team Musica Champions, the senior team also marched their way to victory, but not without facing stiff resistance from Mixed Bag.

A Mixed Bag of players

Team Mixed Bag was indeed a mixed bag of players, held together by NZ pro Tjitte Weistra (pictured), former English player Tracy Hallam, and Czech player Jan Frohlich. Together, the band managed to poke at gaps in the armour, with Weistra accounting for a victory in doubles and mixed each, while Hallam managed to make off with a doubles match. Each of these victories came at a cost, with Mixed Bag having to come back from a one game deficit to secure the crucial 2 games to secure the match.

The tricky mouse saves the day!

Just like the finals of Superliga, Musica Flypower found itself under threat of losing the tie if it didn’t secure the last 2 matches. Yet another Olympic medallist, Tri (Trikus) Kusharjanto stepped up to the task. Despite being nicknamed after the word for mouse, Trikus showed the voice of a lion, with his roars echoing in the hall. Combined with fake drops, it made his back court game hard to read, and often, with a roar, the opponents would move to defend, only to be caught out with a soft drop landing close to the net. With steady progress, Trikus and Laila Rahmawati were able to capture the deciding match that would determine the fate of the tie.

Three time World Masters veteran Effendy Widjaja was very pleased with his team’s performance, even if he had a slight scare when Mixed Bag took a 3^rd match: “We managed to win because we had a strong team and everyone played well. We did expect a good fight at the end, at least everyone enjoyed the game.”

Widjaja was also full of praise for crowd favourite player, Trikus: “The most favourite would be Trikus, because he entertains people who watch him play and everyone enjoys seeing him play.”

He also revealed that there had been plans for a more star-studded team, which would have been fielded if it hadn’t been for scheduling conflicts: “Actually we missed some players, specifically Vita Marissa, who was supposed to play for her team, but had to withdraw at the last minute. Another one was Trikus’s former partner, who joined Indonesian badminton association at the last minute so he had to withdraw, so at the last minute we had to get players for the team.”

Besides the players who had stood at the international stage, another notable guest included Frits Mainaky, the paternal uncle to the famous Mainaky siblings.  Mainaky played for the American team Badminton Aces.

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