Taufik HIDAYAT

Jayce September 6, 2024 8 3

Character Introduction

Taufik (10 August 1981 – ), in full Taufik Hidayat (Indonesian: Taufik Hidayat), born in Bandung, West Java, is an Indonesian male badminton player who has been playing since childhood at the SGS Club in Bandung, where he learnt his deceptive net skills from Indonesia’s top badminton player of the 1970s, Iyer Sumirat. He is one of the Four Kings of International Badminton (2000s) along with Peter Gade of Denmark, Lin Dan of China and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. He is the 2004 Olympic men’s singles gold medallist in Athens, the 2005 World Badminton Championships men’s singles champion, a two-time men’s singles gold medallist at the Asian Games, and a three-time men’s singles champion at the Asian Championships. He also won six Indonesia Open titles (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006), and has won a total of 27 international singles titles in his career.

In 1996, he was spotted by a coach and started to break into the international badminton scene.

In 1997, he won the men’s singles title at the Asian Youth Championships.

In 1998, he won the Brunei Open Men’s Singles Championships, where he defeated China’s Atlanta Olympics Men’s Singles silver medallist Dong Jiong 2-1 in the final. In December of the same year, he represented Indonesia at the Bangkok Asian Games, where he helped Indonesia win the men’s team title.

In 1999, at the age of 17, he participated in the All England Championships held in March, and in the process of advancing, he eliminated Chen Feng of Indonesia transferred to Chinese Taipei and the Atlanta Olympics badminton men’s singles gold medallist Pol Erik Hjelle Larsen, and entered the men’s singles final; the final opponent was the world’s No. 1 Danish player Peter Gade, and he finally lost to Peter Gade’s racket, but the match was very closely fought, and the match The match brought him to the attention of the world of badminton. In August of the same year, he managed to avenge Peter Gade in the men’s singles semi-finals of the Singapore Open, but lost in the final to compatriot and 1995 World Championships men’s singles champion Alby.

In addition, he won the men’s singles gold medal at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games, as well as assisting Indonesia to win the Southeast Asian Games and Badminton Asia Cup men’s team title that year.

In March 2000, he played in the All England Championships, where he again reached the men’s singles final, this time against China’s Xia Xuanze, losing in straight sets to finish as runner-up again, and in May, he helped Indonesia win the Thomas Cup that year as a starter, defeating Ji Xinpeng in the 3rd singles match of the final in straight sets to clinch Indonesia’s 3-0 win against China.

In September 2000, he competed in the men’s badminton singles at the Sydney Olympics, where he was seeded first, but he was stopped in the last eight by Chinese dark horse Ji Xinpeng, who ended up winning the title.

However, in 2000-01, Taufik was in conflict with the Indonesian Badminton Federation (IBF), as he publicly demanded that the IBF replace its then-president, Subakio, and other board members, and the IBF excluded his mentor, Muneo, from being a coach of the national team, which led to Taufik’s withdrawal from the country in 2001, and he even considered switching to Singapore at one point, which resulted in him being banned by the IBF for two months, which eventually ended in a settlement. The incident ended in a settlement.

In May 2002, Taufik was a key player in Indonesia’s defence of the Thomas Cup title, although he lost to Lee Chuan Seng in the third singles match of the final in a five-set battle (it was still a year since the BWF introduced the best-of-five, seven-points-per-set system in June 2001), but Indonesia still beat Malaysia 3-2 on aggregate to win the title.

In October 2002, Taufik competed in the men’s singles badminton tournament at the Busan Asian Games, where he won the Asian Games men’s singles gold medal after defeating host South Korean star Lee Hyun-il in the final. In the men’s team final against host Korea, there was a hiccup: in the first match between him and his Korean opponent Sun Seung-mo, the all-Korean linesman was accused of favouring the home team, repeatedly calling the home team’s balls out of bounds as strikes, and at the same time calling his strikes out of bounds, which led to him dropping his racket and leaving the court in protest with the entire Indonesian staff at one point, and it was only after the OCA intervened and decided to replace the all-Korean linesman that the match continued. He eventually lost to Son Seung-mo, and South Korea beat Indonesia 3-1 on aggregate, with Indonesia failing to defend their title.

In August 2004, Taufik competed in the Men’s Singles at the Athens Olympics, where he played well, defeating a number of players, including 2003 World Championship Men’s Singles runner-up Hwang Choong-han and Danish veteran Peter Gade, on his way to the final. He faced South Korean Son Seung-mo in the final, and was a slow starter, trailing 0-7 and 0-3 in the first two games, but quickly adjusted and defeated his opponent in straight sets (scores: 15-8, 15-7) to win his first and only Olympic gold medal.

In August 2005, Taufik participated in the World Championships in Anaheim, California, USA; the final opponent was the world’s top-ranked Chinese player Lin Dan, who took a huge 15-3 lead in the first set, and lost 12 points in a row in the second set when Lin Dan had a 7-3 lead, and he eventually defeated Lin Dan in two sets by large scores (15-3, 15-7)[11][12] to win the first career World Championships title, and he became the first men’s singles Grand Slam winner in world badminton (Olympic Games, World Championships and Asian Games).

In December 2006, he participated in the Doha Asian Games. In the men’s badminton team competition, Indonesia met China in both the group stage and the semi-finals, and he lost his 2 singles matches in both stages to Lin Dan by a set score of 1-2, and Indonesia ended up with a bronze medal. However, in the men’s badminton singles; he beat China’s Bao Chunlai 2-0 (score: 21-16, 21-14) in the last eight; knocked out Li Zongwei 2-0 (score: 21-16, 21-18) in the semi-finals; and entered the final; in the final, he led the first set, while Lin Dan had a 20-17 lead (i.e. 2 set points) in the second set, but eventually he won 5 points in a row to win the set. won 5 points in a row and successfully defended his title with a 2-0 (score: 21-15, 22-20) set win over Lin Dan.

After 2006, Taufik’s form began to decline and he was no longer as brave as he had been in the past. This period was also the beginning of Lin Dan’s dynasty, coupled with the rise of Li Zongwei, and in the years to come, he was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of his record against Lin and Li, but in fact, he was only one to two years older than the two of them.

In April 2007, he won his third Asian Championships men’s singles title, beating his old rival, Chinese player Chen Hong, in the final, which was the only time in his career that he met the same man in all five men’s singles finals and won all of them, but it was also the last time he won the Asian Championships.

In 2010, he participated in the World Championships in Paris, France, and after five years again reached the finals, but he lost to China’s Chen Jin in the final by a set score of 0-2 (scores: 13-21, 15-21) to take the second place. Not coincidentally, at the World Championships a year earlier, he was eliminated in the semi-finals by Chen Jin, who has since become a nemesis in his late career.

In July 2012, he represented Indonesia in the men’s singles badminton event at the Olympic Games in London, England, his fourth personal Olympic appearance.

At the beginning of 2013, he announced that he would retire after the Indonesia Open; on 12 June, he faced Indian junior Sai Paranes in the first round of the Indonesia Premier Superseries, and ended his career with a loss after leading by one game to 1-2, officially bidding farewell to the international badminton scene.

Equipment Used

ARCSABER 11 Metallic Red; ARCSABER 10; NANORAY Z SPEED Bright Orange; ARCSABER 11; BG-65; BG66 ULTIMAX; SHB65Z2MEX; ARCSABER Z-Slash; ARMORTEC 700; ARMORTEC 900 POWER