Taufik Hidayat

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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 and his height is 176 cm. He is a former world champion and the current Olympic champion in the men's singles. He also won the Indonesian Open six times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006). ^[1]

Hidayat played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men' 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.

[edit] Player Attributes

Hidayat's badminton styles are backhand, forehand drop shot and net-play.^{[citation needed]} He has weaknesses in is his reluctance to kill from high forehand clears, his impatience with loud crowds and his penchant for returning a net dribble with a net dribble, 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. According to many players he has the ability to win against any player in the world when he really sets his mind to it.^{[citation needed]} His lack of consistency and mental fortitude are often points of criticism.

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.^[3])

[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 times won men's singles Badminton World Championships (2005)
• 1 times won men's singles Badminton Summer Olympics (2004)
• 2 times won Thomas Cup with Indonesian Badminton National Team (2000 and 2002)

[edit] References