Taufik Hidayat vs Bao Chunlai | China Master 2008 | Shuttle Amazing

Taufik Hidayat vs Bao Chunlai | China Master 2008 | Shuttle Amazing

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

Career summary
When he was young, he joined the SGS club, a badminton club in Bandung, where he trained under Iie Sumirat.

At age 17 he won the Brunei Open and reached the semifinals of the 1998 Asian Championships and the Indonesia Open. In 1999, Hidayat won his first Indonesian Open title. In the same year he also reached the final of the All England and the Singapore Open but lost the finals to his great rival Peter Gade and his senior in the national team Heryanto Arbi respectively. Hidayat achieved the world number one ranking when he was still 19 years old in 2000 after winning the Malaysia Open, Asian Championships, Indonesia Open and was once again runner-up at the All England Open where he was defeated by Chinese player Xia Xuanze.

Hidayat won the men's singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics defeating Hidetaka Yamada of Japan and Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia in the first two rounds. Hidayat defeated Peter Gade of Denmark 15–12, 15–12 in the quarter final and Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 15–9, 15–2 in the semifinal. Playing in the gold medal match. He defeated Korean Shon Seung-mo 15–8, 15–7 in the final to win the gold medal. In the same year, Hidayat successfully retained his Indonesia Open title by defeating Chen Hong 15–9, 15–3 in the final and won his second Asian Championships title.

In August 2005, he won the men's singles title at the World Championships defeating world number one Lin Dan of China 15–3, 15–7 in the final. With this title, he became the first men's single player to hold the Olympic and World Championships title in consecutive years.

Hidayat won the men's singles gold medal at the Asian Games in 2002 Busan and 2006 Doha. He also won the 2007 Asian Championship, and two men's singles gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games in 1999 Bandar Seri Begawan and 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima.

In November 2012, Hidayat built a badminton training center named Taufik Hidayat Arena (THA), located at Ciracas, East Jakarta. This "house of badminton" is both named and owned by Taufik.[5]

Personal life
He married the daughter of Agum Gumelar, Ami Gumelar, on 4 February 2006. They had a daughter in early August 2008, named Natarina Alika Hidayat. She was born shortly before he had to leave for the World Championships.[6]

Player attributes
Hidayat's shot-making strengths were his backhand (as he is perhaps most famous for his backhand smash, revered for its unusually high generation of power), forehand jump smash, drop shot (reverse slice in particular), smooth footwork and deceiving net play. Hidayat's forehand jump smash in the 2006 World Championships was once the fastest smash recorded in singles competition: he recorded 305 km/h (190 mph) in a match against Ng Wei.[citation needed] This power on both his forehand and backhand, combined with his tenacity at the net and scope for deceptive shots, provided him with an extremely diverse weaponry on court, making him one of the most difficult players to face on the open circuit. Criticisms were aimed at his occasional lack of fitness, impatience with loud crowds, and his propensity to return a net shot with another net shot even when his opponent was dangerously close to the net.

Bao Chunlai (Chinese: 鲍春来; pinyin: Bào Chūnlái; Mandarin pronunciation: [pâu ʈʂʰwə́n lǎi]; born February 17, 1983 in Changsha, Hunan) is a male, left-handed badminton player from China.

Career
The tall, powerful Bao has ranked among the world's leading singles player during the first decade of the 21st century. He has been an especially valuable member of China's world champion Thomas Cup (men's international) teams of 2004, 2006 and 2008, winning a key singles match in the championship round of each contest. Bao has received medals in three of the four BWF World Championships that he has played in, earning a bronze in the 2003 and 2007 editions, and a silver in the 2006 Championships in Madrid, falling to teammate Lin Dan in the final. A frequent finalist in top tier international tournaments, Bao has had some difficulty breaking through in them. Outside of team events, his biggest wins have come in the Denmark (2001), South Korea (2006), and China (2007) Opens. His performances in the Olympic Games have been somewhat disappointing. He was beaten in the round of sixteen at the 2004 Athens Olympics and in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In 2010, he beat compatriot Lin Dan in the All England quarter-finals.

He officially retired from the national team on 21 September 2011. He is set to star in the 2015 sports action film Full Strike.