Former International Badminton Federation Executive Board member Suharso Suhandinata passed away on Thursday 11 November 2011 in Jakarta. He was 94.
Suharso, widely credited for his role together with the late Dick Sudirman in the unification of the then International Badminton Federation (IBF) and World Badminton Federation (WBF) in 1981, was an embodiment of grace and merit, serving the establishment at various levels but most prominently as an administrator and a diplomat.
Suharso played a major role in pushing for the then IBF to include the Sudirman Cup in its calendar in memory of the efforts of Dick Sudirman in uniting IBF and WBF.
He was also well known for his passion and commitment towards the development of badminton for youth, a fact which is clearly demonstrated in the running of his family’s club – Tangkas.
And in recognition of the family’s contribution to badminton, especially badminton for youth, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) renamed the World Junior Team Championship to the Suhandinata Cup in 2008. 
Born third to a family of seven on 20 September 1916 in Bandung, Indonesia, Suharso completed his education at the La Salle college in Hong Kong and returned home to join his family business in Jakarta.
A player in his younger days, Suharso soon realised that his niche was rather in the management of the sport and so in 1962 took over the running of Tangkas.
This was to be the start of a journey that saw him rise through the ranks of the Indonesian Badminton Federation (PBSI) to a seat on the Executive Board of the then International Badminton Federation to which he was elected in 1975 and served until 1983.
A long serving member of the PBSI, the affable Suharso, the doyen of the Suhandinata family, was a highly respected member of the international badminton community.
Probably his greatest contribution to the sport and a personal achievement could be traced to 26th May 1981. On this day, the IBF and the breakaway World Badminton Federation were unified as one body after a break of three years. Suharso, along with his mentor Dr. Sudirman, was primarily instrumental in bringing the two federations together through the initiation of a series of meetings between the two parties.
The BWF also honoured Suharso with the Distinguished Service Award in 1986. He was also recipient of Indonesia’s highest award for a sport activist in 1971, the Satya Lencana Kebudayaan.
Though Suharso had not been active in the sport in his later years, his interest in the sport that he had devoted a lifetime to, never waned. He continued to be an interested party, deriving great pleasure watching it on the television, reading in the papers and journals and sharing it with the ‘legacy’ he has left behind his sons – Justian, Juniarto, Franklin and Ricky.
Justian emulated his dad and his now a member in the Council of the BWF while Juniarto is a Certificated Referee. His two other children Franklin and Ricky are in the family business.
Suharso Suhandinata, who had lost his wife in 2008, leaves behind 4 sons, 11 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
He will be laid to rest on Sunday 14th November 2010 in the city of Trangerang, some 20km west of Jakarta.
Source : Badminton World Federation
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