Taufik Hidayat Biography

Taufik Hidayat (born August 10, 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 Iie 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.

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 305 km/h in a match against Ng Wei.

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.

In 2009, he started competing in world badminton tournaments independently outside the Indonesian national badminton team. This supposedly gives him the freedom to enter only the tournaments he wishes.