Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 8, 1990 TAG: 9007080179
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Even a shuttlecock novice could have picked out Ignatius Rusli on Saturday at Roanoke College's Bast Center.
He was the guy in the white shorts. The guy with quicker hands than Matt Dillon. The guy who never sweats. The guy who never loses.
"Yes, Ignatius plays a different game than the rest of us," said Warren Emerson, the Games' badminton coordinator.
"Rusli can't lose . . . not unless he breaks a leg or something," added Don Paup, who at 51 is still one of the top players in the United States' talent-starved badminton scene.
Even playing on one leg - his right knee is severely hampered by a torn ligament that undoubtedly will require surgery - the 24-year-old Indonesian is simply too overpowering for Americans.
"There's no one on the East Coast that can get more than five points on him," Paup said. "If Rusli could train regularly, I think without a doubt he would be the number one player in the United States."
Rusli, who hasn't lost in 50-some matches in America, will get that chance next year when he is eligible to play in the U.S. Badminton Association's national tournament. He wasn't eligible this year since he has been living in the United States only for little more than a year.
"I could be number one in the U.S.," said Rusli, who lives with his uncle in Alexandria and studies English at Northern Virginia Community College.
"I'm going to be in school here for another three or four years. The bad thing here is that I don't get to play every day. I have time only after dinner and on Sundays."
To Rusli, playing badminton in the United States is similar to playing baseball in the Carolina League. America is a long, hard smash from badminton's major leagues.
"In Indonesia, badminton is a very big sport, much like basketball or football is here," Rusli said.
"I started playing when I was 10. Back home, badminton comes first and school second. I went to a badminton school and learned how to play.
"It's not an easy game. It takes a long time to be very good."
Rusli, who yearns to return to Indonesia and play professionally, realizes his future plans will not be enhanced by his stay in the United States. Simply put, there's not enough quality competition to help elevate his game.
"Everybody in Indonesia was good, but here the competition is much easier," he said, watching as two novices limped through a brutally played game.
"You can see . . . there's no challenge for me.
"The play here is not good. There's maybe 40-50 players in the [Washington] D.C. area. They're not good. They are old men."
So the big question Saturday wasn't whether Rusli would lose, but would anybody score more than one point on him.
Rusli opened his day's work with an effortless 15-0, 15-0 whitewash of Roanoker Rick Jennings.
A stunned Jennings said the score wasn't really that close.
"To be honest," said Jennings, "I've played top-level competition before and he [Rusli] was just playing with me.
"He could have beaten me worse than zero and zero."
How's that possible?
Jennings laughed, then said, "He could have beaten me quicker."
"Yes," Rusli conceded, "sometimes I do feel sorry for the other guy."
Paup, who sees Rusli's act regularly in the D.C. area, said the player from Indonesia seldom gets serious on the court.
"He'll toy with you, sorta take it easy," Paup said. "Some Indonesians don't do that. I guess we've sort of Americanized him a little."
by CNB