Taufik Hyadat Beyond the Backhand

TAUFIK HIDAYAT, does this name sound familiar to you?

Famous for Many Reasons: He is one of Indonesia's most famous badminton players. Anyone who regularly follows world badminton news will know this name off by heart because of a number of incidents this player has been involved in, in the past and also some of the amazing skills he owns on the badminton court. 

I must say, he is also an idol to me (no disrespect to any New Zealand players!!)

His hard working attitude as well as his determination on the court can often be judged as second to none. His bad temper can be the down side of his game but he is a player that has been in his prime and has reached a level attained by only a few. 

From A Strong Badminton Country: Badminton is the main sport over at Indonesia and he could be one of the most well known Indonesian players of all time not because of his behavior but because of his overall achievements.

According to a couple of Indonesian magazines Taufik is also very popular among the female audience in Indonesia because of his looks and his on court behavior.

When he was only eight years old, 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. At only the age of FIFTEEN he was named as a member of the world class Indonesia National Squad.

No.1 in the World at 17:  On top of his amazing player profile (below), he also has a terrific record.

At the age of 19 he was the number 1 seed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and already ranked 3^rd in the world!!).

He won his first Indonesia Open title when he was just 18 and made the All England final when he was 17. 

But the most remarkable was winning the  Asian Junior championship title . and becoming the no.1 ranked player in the world when Taufik was only SEVENTEEN!!!! What were YOU doing at 17?

That Backhand Smash: His name has become associated to his world famous "backhand smash" .  A lot of younger players often try to "copy" or at least come near his backhand speed. When you get clocked throwing a backhand smash at 200km/h regularly, you  tend to get famous one way or another. 

(To those who won't have a clue in how fast 200km/h - is try to imagine that backhand smash coming at you as fast as American professional tennis player Andy Roddick's FOREHAND serve. For most badminton players it would be quite hard to do a 200km/h FOREHAND smash let alone going for a backhand).  

Taufik's forehand smash is beyond 300km/h, I am sure a lot of you have been smashed in the face "accidentally" (yea right!) by a shuttlecock before. Well I am sure you will NOT want to be smashed in the face by his 300km/h smash because you may not have much of a complete face afterwards.

Controversy vs Lin Dan: There are a couple of incidents that may worth telling you about.  The first  is when he forfeited his match against current world leader Lin Dan from China at the Hong Kong Open in 2006.  Taufik thought there were a couple of bad line calls which went against him when he was down 4-1 in the first game.

He simply walked to his bag, picked it up then off he went with no prior notice to the umpire or his opponent. How would you react if your opponent walked out on you like that?

Yes, confused and shocked, that is exactly what Lin Dan was thinking at the time of the incident.  That incident seriously set Taufik back and he was labelled as having poor sportsmanship there after.

That did not slow him down.  He kept working hard and stormed back in 2007 defeating 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. That shows how determined Taufik was to do what it takes to reach his goal of beating his rival all within a very short period of time.

Dedicated Family Man: Other then his backhand, he is also known as a very good husband and being really dedicated to his family. Hidayat has a wife, Ami Gumelar.

She is the daughter of Agum Gumelar, who was KONI's (Komite Olahraga Nasional Indonesia) former President, former PSSI's (All Indonesia's Football Association) President and former minister of the Indonesian government.

They married on 4 February 2006 and now have a daughter whom was born in August 2007. When he Taufik was younger, he dreamt of becoming a football player instead of a professional Badminton player, we can wonder if that had anything to do with him meeting his future wife through Agum Gumelar.

Taufik Hidayat's Profile: 

Born on the August 10, 1981 (currently 26 years old)

Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.

The name comes from Taufik Hidayat's parents Aris Haris (his father) and Enok (his mother). Generally people call him Taufik.

He is a former world champion and the current Olympic champion in the men's singles.  In Athens 2004 he defeated Shon Seung-mo from Korea in the finals.