Taufik Hidayat was born 10 August 1981 in Bandung, West Java is an Indonesian
badminton player. He is a former World and Olympic champion in men's singles.
He has also won the Indonesian Open six times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and
2006).
When he was young, he joined the SGS Club, a badminton
club in Bandung , where he trained under lie Sumirat.
Hidayat won the men's singles competition in badminton
at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In August 2005, he won the men's singles
competition at the IBF World Championships. He also won the gold medal at
the Asian Games twice, at Busan in 2002 and Doha in 2006.
Popular media has at times focused on the perceived
rivalry between Hidayat and Chinese player Lin Dan, referring to the two as
"arch rivals"
Hidayat's main qualities are 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 is currently the fastest smash recorded
in single's competition: he recorded a 305 km/h in a match againstNgWei.
This overwhelming power on
both his forehand and backhand, combined with his tenacity at the net and scope
for deceptive shots, provide him with an extremely diverse weaponry on court,
making him one of the most difficult players to face on the open circuit.
Criticisms are in his lack of fitness, impatience with loud crowds and his propensity
to return a net shot with a net shot, even though his opponent is dangerously
close to the net.
