Watch out for Jauza Sugiarto in Purple Junior League

Cheras BC girls' doubles Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto (left) and Apriani Rahayu of Indonesia in action in the Purple Junior League.

KUALA LUMPUR: Take note of young Indonesian shuttler Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto.

The 16-year-old, the daughter of former world singles champion Icuk Sugiarto, is playing for Cheras BC in the Purple Junior League (PJL) and is already making heads turn.

Jauza partnered Apriani Rahayu to score a convincing 11-7, 11-10, 11-7 win over Seah Lin-Wong Kelly in a tie against Nusajaya BC at Pro-One Badminton in Skudai, Johor.

Cheras BC eventually defeated Nusajaya BC 10-8.

Former international Rashid Sidek, who is a coach with Cheras BC, said Jauza’s exploits were a testament to Indonesia’s strong badminton development programme.

Just a month ago, Jauza-Apriani won their first international title – clinching the women’s doubles crown at the Singapore International Series.

“Jauza is the younger daughter of Icuk, whose son Tommy is also doing quite well at the senior level,” said Rashid.

“Jauza and Apriani have good basics of the game. They are young but their skills and techniques are really solid.

“I’ve been observing the juniors from Indonesia and they seem to have a good grasp of the game.”

Rashid said that he’s concerned over the shortage of girl shuttlers in Malaysia.

“We have a shortage of women’s singles and doubles players. We do not see talented girls coming through the system. The small pool of girls we have do not have good basics,” said Rashid.

“I’m working at the club level now and it’s difficult to get girls to play competitive badminton. The grassroots programme for girls needs to be strengthened.”

RESULTS

Muar City BC bt Kajang BC 12-8 (Ilham Sri Yulianto lost to Jhotiswaran 8-11, 11-5, 10-11, 11-5, 5-11; Vioni Florencya bt Kunjira Khongdee 11-9, 11-10, 11-7; Kasturi Radhakrishnan-Muhd Lukman Hakim bt Aldreen Rae D. Concepcion-Labieb Muhzafar Lakamagi 11-7, 11-9, 11-10; Carrie Tan Jia Le-Welnis Lim Peiy Link lost to Celyn Tan Yi Fhang-Nur Arissa Bahrin 10-11, 10-11, 11-3, 7-11; Muhd Syafiq-Riyanda Kesuma bt Muhd Zul Atif-Zairul Fahmi Zainudin 11-6, 10-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-10).

Cheras BC bt Nusajaya BC 10-8 (Sim Fong Hau lost to Tan Teck Han 7-11, 6-11, 6-11; Ng Wan Win lost to Wu Liang Yi 11-10, 8-11, 5-11, 10-11; Amirsyazwan Al-Razi-Pearly Tan Koong Le bt Hoo Pang Ron-Lee Shun Mei 11-8, 3-11, 11-9, 11-8; Apriani Rahayu-Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto bt Seah Lin-Wong Kelly 11-7, 11-10, 11-7; Ameer Amri Zainuddin-Mohd Syazmil Idham bt Liew Jun Rong-Ng Eng Cheong 11-8, 3-11, 11-9, 11-6.)