Jakarta, Indonesia, July 8, 2020: The gold medal for Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the men’s badminton final of the 18th Asian Games was one of the highlights of Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
Now, Indonesia’s new hero - along with teammate and travelling roommate Anthony Ginting – is trying to take their badminton-crazy country back to the top of the Olympic Games podium at Tokyo next summer.
Christie, 22, and Ginting, 24, are both in the world’s top 10 and are the subject of a special profile by the Olympic Channel on the road to Tokyo 2020.
The five-minute feature focuses on their friendship and their joint determination to follow in the footsteps of Indonesia’s previous men’s singles champions at the Olympic Games – Alan Budikusuma in 1992 and Taufik Hidayat in 2004.
“Anthony and myself are the best players in Indonesia at the moment but we don’t want this to become a burden for us,” said Christie, who is ranked world No. 7.
“Alan Budikusuma was an extraordinary player and the first player from Indonesia to win the Olympic gold medal in men’s singles; I want to achieve the same success – and like Taufik Hidayat who followed him.”
Christie added that the mastery of China’s Lin Dan and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei had prevented Indonesia from adding to this golden haul, with the recently retired Lin Dan winning gold in 2008 and 2012 and Chen Long defeating Lee Chong Wei in the Rio 2016 final. Lee Chong Wei retired last year due to health concerns and with three Olympic silver medals from 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Ginting, the world No. 6, said there was still a long way to go for the Indonesian pair to reach the top. In order to achieve this they would work hard and rise together to try and bring more golden moments to Indonesia in Olympic badminton.