Rudy Hartono Article- Full English Translation

Here's the full English translation, I tried my best. *** indicates unknown translation/word. I hope you'll enjoy the text as much as I did!

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Rudy Hartono- HIS LIFE AND DEATH FOR BADMINTON.


His ambition to become a doctor was abandoned in favour of badminton. His excellent performance in this sport, and his famous killer smashes, led him to great success as Champion of the All England tournament for eight times, and together with the Indonesian team won the Thomas Cup in 1970, 1973, 1976 and 1979. [This feature is dedicated to cover the stories of national heroes]. All around the world people may debate over the superiority of legends such as Muhammad Ali and Pele. But in Indonesia only one name springs to mind. Rudy Hartono Kurniawan, 8 times All England men’s singles champion, one of the biggest badminton team events. He was born Nio Hap Liang on 18 August 1949, the third child of Mr and Mrs Zulkarnain Kurniawan. Freddy Harsono is his older brother, and Diana Veronica his older sister. His five younger siblings are Jeanne Utami, Eliza Laksmi Dewi, Ferry Harianto, Tjosi Hartanto, and Hauwtje Hariadi. This huge family lives in Jalan Kaliasin 49, now Jalan Basuki Rachmat in the business areas of Surabaya. This residence is also the base of a men’s tailoring business. Their other businesses include a milk processing outfit near Wanokromo.

Just like other kids, the little Rudy was also interested in all sorts of sport at school, particularly athletics. While at SD (Grade School?) he loved swimming. At high school he played volleyball, while at Senior High he was a brillaint football player. He was also good at swimming and rollerskating. But out of all these sports, Badminton was his major passion. At 9 yrs old Rudy had already shown his talent in this sport. But his father only noticed his potential when he was 11. He too was a badminton player when younger. Mr Zulkarnain had played Class 1 competitions in Surabaya. He first played at Oke Badminton Association which he founded himself in 1951. In 1964 the association was dissolved and he moved to Surya Naga group. Here he was asked to train young players. In his training, Zul believes in four things: speed, good breathing, consistency and aggresiveness. Because of this all his charges had to go through athletic training, especially long and short distance running, jumping, ? and ?.

At Oke Rudy started his systematic training , while previously his training was more pedestrian, literally. He had actually trained on asphalt road which was bumpy and rocky, in front of the PLN Office in Surabaya, previously named Jalan Gemblongan. He said this in his book Rajawali Dengan Jurus Padi (1986). There, Rudy trained only on Sundays, from morning till 10.00. Building in confidence, Rudy began to join competitions in Surabaya, fromone village to the other, under Petromaks lights. After moving to PB Oke owned by his father, his training became more systematic. He trained in the railway warehouse, surrounded by trains at PJKA Karangmenjangan, He felt at ease training there, saying, ‘I trained there through the evening. There was light. The floor was concrete, not excellent, but good enough. And there was a foodstall next door. If we got hungry, we would eat and have a drink there. And being very young, we would actually prefer eating and drinking to playing badminton.’ Soon however he would play with the Rajawali group which has produced many international badminton players. He feels he was his best while training with WB Rajawali. But while acknowledging his father’s input he admitted his technical and tactical skills were only developed much better after joining the National Centralized Training for Thomas Cup in late 1965. Soon, his performance skyrocketed. He was part of the Thomas Cup winning team in 1967. A year later at 18 he won his first All England champion title having defeated Malaysian ace Tan Aik Huang with the score of 15-12 and 15-9. He won the tile every year since until 1974. The supremo of badminton tophies seemed to belong to him (the record still stands). But what seemed was not to be.

In 1975 his archrival Svend Pri won the title. But it was then reclaimed by Rudy in 1976. With the Indonesian team Rudy seized the Thoms Cup iin 1970, 1973 and 1976. He was also mens singles champ in 1980. Stuart Wyatt, British Badminton Association president, said, ‘Without doubt, Rudy Hartono was the single biggest player of his times. He was supreme in all aspects of the game, his performance, his freshness, and tactics. The All England record for seven years in a row and the eighth (1968-1976) simply says it all.’

That record possible reflects his agile performance which was characterised by speed and power game. His movements gracefully covered all the floor space. He simply knew when to rally and when to play fast. *** but once he launched his attack, the opponent almost couldn’t do a thing. His name was almost a guarantee to a win, he almost never lost. Such that even while trailing far behind, people believed victory would still be his. Perhaps it was for this reason that the English called him ‘Wonderboy’.

Many wanted to know the secret of his success. Pray. He admits praying strengthens your mind and faith. “Praying is not just before a game, but throughout the game. It involves sayings or expressions that will boost your confidence in your heart and in your mind. And for each point he scores during a match, he is thankful to God. ‘Thank You, Lord, for this point!’ That is how it goes till the final score and the end of the match,” he says in his biography edited by Alois A. Nugroho. He says that because he believes that “man tries, but God decides”.

“I did this in all the big matches, especially at All England. To me, this was the real thing. We can simply try, but God will decide thinks for us. Hence, I also believed that if we lose, then it was meant to be, and if we win, it is really God’s will. Losing is a natural thing, because as humans we will all experience defeat. This somewhat relieves the stress during a match, it lessens your fear and the upset,” he says.

In all frankness, this badminton hero also admits that All England somewhat enchanted him, such that with every championship that he went for, it was always with a great new passion. “Strange!” he says.

The year 1968 when he first appeared in this arena he wanted to follow the footsteps of Tan Joe Hok. In 1969 this Indonesian lad wanted to be the first Indonesian to win the All England title twice in succession. Meanwhile in 1970 he dreamt of winning it for the third time. Because if he managed to do this he would get to keep the cup. “So at All England, it was as if a duty for me break a record, and another record, and yet another record,” he says.

His nemesis was Svend Pri from Denmark. *** His performance would often surprise and confuse his opponents. Yet Rudy had his own tactics, and would speed up the game ***. “That was what I did, that is to make the first move. To play an opponent like Svend Pri, you just cannot give him a chance. One simple mistake and we give him the chance to expand his game, you could be finished!”

Nevertheles, having the ‘ammunition’ could not stop Pri from winning the All England in 1975. In the tight and thrilling match Pri beat Rudy with straight sets 15-11 and 17-14. “I admit Pri’s game was really good. He had prepared himself very well. Ten years he played to win All England, and he finally made it,” Rudy says of Pri’s victory.

Pri, a stylish and agile player had killer overhead smashes, although he was a temperemental. His principle was “to win the first set, lose the second, and go for the third”.

During the Thomas Cup tournament in 1973 at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Svend Pri again defeated Rudy. That year, Indonesia beat Denmark 8-1 and won the cup. Ironically, Rudy was the only Indonesian player that lost against Denmark. According to Rudy, that was the most heartbreaking defeat in his entire badminton career. He realised then that all his success was a result of the efforts of many different people. This included that of all the masseuse/ physios in the Indonesian team. The problem was that in a cool environment your muscles give up more easily. A little exhaustion means lactic acid (?) would start to concentrate in different parts of the body. To circulate it in the blood system, muscular massage is essential. Soetrisno, Rudy’s masseuse/physio at various competitions concedes that after every game the players must be massaged. “In fact Rudy would often sleep through the night after I massaged him,” admits Soetrisno. To this mentor of FPOK Jakarta masseuse who teaches this art, Rudy was a model athlete. According to him, Rudy was disciplined in his training and that in every competition that he played, he had confidence in Rudy.

Apart from the technical factors that go in in each match, there would sometimes be a non-technical hitch that would come up. Rudy would seem unprepared. This happened when as All England Champion he had to give a speech in English. Fortunately he was ‘rescued’ by Ferry Sonnevillewho prepared the text.

His unease would also arise when he had to attend the dinners. “Every time I had to attend the dinner, I would be petrified looking at all different kinds of spoons. There’s the eating spoon, there’s the soup spoon, the tea spoon, and there’s also the butter knife and the forks. Why? It just made it even more difficult to be the champion,” he says.

This non technical problem again came up when he appeared rather unexpectedly with Poppy Dharsono in the film Matinya Seorang Bidadari (Death of an Angel 1972). A steamy scene caused a lot of furore. “I regret not giving myself time to think about it beforehand, although I just thought it would be a nice change (to be in a film),” says this film lover.

His advance in the badminton arena began to slow down following his defeat in the semifinals of All England 1981 by India’s Prakash Padukone. “I realized I could do no more as a player,” he writes. Hence, with his name being written in the Guiness Book of World Records in 1992, he would still remain involved in the sport that he grew up with, albeit courtside. This SIWO/PWI Best Sportsman of 1969 and 1974 became the Head of PBSI from 1981-1985.

Rudy who also attended the Economics Faculty of Trisakti Jakarta, began to expand his business. First he ventured into the milk business in Sukabumi, as well as sports accessories of the likes of Mikasa, Ascot and Yonex. Then through PT Havilah Citra Footwear founded in 1996, he imported various kinds of sportswear.

The husband of Jane Anwar also established PT Petrari Persada, and information services business. His name in the world of badminton led the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to appoint Rudy as good will ambassador for Indonesia. UNDP is a body under the United Nations Organization that fights poverty, and aims to increase the standard of living, and supports women. In the eyes of UNDP, Rudy was the best qualified person as a humanitarian ambassador. His activity in sports and his hardwork to become world’s number one was deemed exemplary to the younger generation. “He should be a role model,” says Ravi Rajan, Resident Representative of UNDP in Indonesia (Gatra 8 November 1997).

The Master no longer waves his racket in the air. Age and health conditions do not allow him to do so. In fact since he had to undergo a coronary bypass surgery in Australia in 1988, he only exercises now by walking around where he lives. Yet, what is sure is that his dedication to badminton has never died.

 

yeah, I mean, rudy hartono played way beyond my time... and to be honest, i've only heard of the guy, and never seen him play. But knowing that he won 8 All England titles, whoaaa.. that's just, crazy!! Im glad I translated the article, very interesting indeed!! And like u said, despite all that, he admits he's human... such humility!! great guy!

 

kewllll, hey this sounded familiar, my dad grew up in surabaya too and he played an conrete everyday! neighbourhood against each other. on the street you learn the best, just as basketball football(soccer)

 

I enjoy reading it.

Rudy (Liang Hai Liang) was a big name in China even during whose iron curtain time.

Anyone knows his origin? Is he a native Indonesian?


Thanks.

Joel_Y

 

Thank you, Bbn.

How about the best man double WIJAYA Candra and GUNAWAN Tony? So they are also Chinese?