Jakarta: Indonesia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports has officially awarded a total bonus of Rp. 10 billion (USD $703k) to the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) for winning the 2020 Thomas Cup.
The award was given to the Chairperson of PBSI – Agung Firman Sampurna on Monday.
“This award is a huge motivation for all our shuttlers to perform well at competitions,” said Sampurna.
“For athletes, awards could serve as incentives to stimulate, strengthening their determination, and to encourage them to keep improving,” continued Sampurna.
Previously, several Indonesian shuttlers had voiced their opinions on social media about whether they would receive some sort of bonus from the Indonesian government by winning the Thomas Cup. The Indonesian badminton fans have also criticized the Indonesian government for spending money on other stuff but didn’t show appreciation to the Indonesian badminton players who made the country proud by winning the Thomas Cup.
That had prompted Indonesia’s Minister of Youth and Sports to finally decide to give the bonus to the Indonesian team.
“Previously, we did not budget the bonuses for the Indonesian Thomas Cup team because we looked at the track record for the last 5 years, and the data showed that we should not allocate budget for the team,” said a representative from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
“After the budget revision, we were able to give out that bonuses,” explained the representative from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Indonesia ended a 19-year Thomas Cup drought after overpowering the defending champions China 3-0 in the final that was held in Aarhus, Denmark on Oct 17, 2021.
