Taufik Hidayat

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Taufik Hidayat
Personal information
Date of birth	August 10, 1981 (1981-08-10) (age 26)
Place of birth	Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	64 kg (140 lb/10.1 st)
Men's singles
Country	Indonesia
Handedness	Right
Coach	Mulyo Handoyo
Highest Ranking	1 (1998)
Current Ranking	7 (10-January-2008)
BWF Profile

Olympic medal record
Men's badminton
Gold	2004 Athens	Singles

Taufik Hidayat (born August 10, 1981, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia) is an Indonesian badminton player. He is a former world champion and the current Olympic champion in men's singles. He has also won the Indonesian Open six times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006). ^[1]

When he was young, he joined the SGS Club, a badminton club in Bandung. Having been trained by Iie Sumirat, Taufik learned his characteristic confusing and tricky net play.^{[citation needed]}

Hidayat played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Hidetaka Yamada of Japan and Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia in the first two rounds. In the quarterfinals, Hidayat defeated Peter Gade of Denmark 15-12, 15-12. Hidayat advanced to the semifinals, in which he beat Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 15-9, 15-2. Playing in the gold medal match, he defeated Korean Shon Seung-mo 15-8, 15-7 to win the gold medal. In August 2005, he defeated world number one Lin Dan of China, 15-3, 15-7 in the men's singles final of the IBF World Championships.

Contents 1 Player Attributes 2 Personal life 3 Participation at Indonesian Team 4 Achievements 5 References

[edit] Player Attributes

Hidayat's qualities are his backhand (Taufik is most famous for his backhand smash, which has been clocked over 200km/h), forehand drop shot (reverse slice in particular), forehand jump smash (clocked at 305km/h), net-play, and occasional deceptive shots (such as his fake smash and fake drive, both of which he plays as drop shots).^{[citation needed]} He has weaknesses in is his propensity to make errors, his impatience with loud crowds and his penchant for returning a net shot with a net shot, even when the opponent is dangerously close to the net.^{[citation needed]} His style mirrors Zhao Jianhua to some reviewers.^{[citation needed]} Hidayat is known for his relaxed smooth playing style. His lack of consistency and mental fortitude are often points of criticism.

On top of his amazing profile, he also has a terrific record. He was the number 1 seed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, at the age of 19. he also won his first Indonesia Open title when he was just 18. He had got the All England final when he was 17. But among the countless things he has done, the most remarkable is that of Asian Junior championship title. When Taufik was 17, he became the best player in the world, after retaining the world no.1 spot for several months he won the Asian Junior championship title.

Taufik was defeated three times by Lin Dan in 2006, at the Thomas Cup semi-final tie, Japan Open final and the Hong Kong Open where Taufik forfeited the match after what he thought was a bad line call at 4-1 to Lin in the first game.^[2] Taufik defeated Lin Dan in the final of the 2006 Asian Games individual event on December 9 after losing twice to him in three days in the team event preliminaries and semi-finals. Taufik has an 8-4 losing record at present against Lin Dan, his ultimate rival.^[3])

To date, Taufik is the only badminton player in the world ever to win the Olympics (2004) and the World Badminton Championship that took place in the following year (2005).

[edit] Personal life

Hidayat has a wife, Ami Gumelar. She is the daughter of Agum Gumelar, who was KONI's former President, former PSSI's President and former minister of the Indonesian government. They married on 4 February 2006 and have a daughter, born in August 2007. He has two hobbies: swimming and watching movies. The name of Hidayat's parents are Aris Haris (his father) and Enok (his mother). Generally people call him Taufik.

[edit] Participation at Indonesian Team

• 5 times at Sudirman Cup (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007)
• 5 times at Thomas Cup (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)

[edit] Achievements

• 6 times won men's singles Badminton Indonesia Open (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006)
• 2 times won badminton men's singles Asian Games (2002 and 2006)
• 1 time won men's singles Badminton World Championships (2005)
• 1 time won men's singles Badminton Summer Olympics (2004)
• 2 times won Thomas Cup with Indonesian Badminton National Team (2000 and 2002)
• 3 times won men's singles Badminton Asia Championships (2000, 2004 and 2007)
• 2 times won men's singles Singapore Open (2001, 2005)
• 1 time won men's singles Malaysia Open (2000)
• Won the Brunei Open at the age of 16
• Won gold medal at individual event (men's single) after defeating Singapore men's single Kendrick Lee Yen Hui with straight-set 21-15, 21-9 and won gold medal for men's team event at SEA Games (2007)
• 2 times Runner-up men's single Badminton All England (1999, 2000)

[edit] References