The career path of former world number one badminton player, Taufik Hidayat, seems to be one of lessons to learn for his junior, Jonatan Christie. Taufik Hidayat, who embraced the world title several times, felt the bitterness of not being appreciated and then forgotten.
That journey caused Taufik’s criticism about the lack of appreciation by his country. Recently, he commented on Tontowi Ahmad’s decision to quit the badminton world because he felt unappreciated. Tontowi, who won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, hanged the racket because he felt he was not valued by only getting an apprenticeship status at the national training plates.
Seeing the incident, Taufik Hidayat appeared with scathing comments. “The champion, the only mixed double Olympic champion in Indonesia and must resign with an internship status?” write Taufik in the Tontowi upload comment column. “How are you athletes who do not have a degree like Tontowi, huh? Be patient, Tontowi, it’s a risk to be an athlete. Keep the spirit up. Everyone knows that you are an Olympic champion. But not appreciated. The important thing is that you become the pride of this nation through badminton,” he wrote. “Does your child want to be a badminton athlete later, Tontowi?” he asked while laughing.
The same thing is believed by the badminton gold medalist of the 2018 Asian Games in the men’s singles sector, Jonatan Christie. The 22-year-old man believes, after he won and took the podium, the fun times will be over quickly.
“If I’m a champion, in my opinion that’s good enough. I was a champion at that time, after that I will be forgotten, so that’s it,” said Jonatan in the YouTube channel Hanif and Rendy Show. “For example, Taufik Hidayat. Everyone knows he is an Olympic champion, two times Asian Games champion, but what now?” said the man who was familiarly called Jojo.
“Yes, sorry to say this, but for every person or public figure there is a time he will be forgotten. So, in my opinion, the meaning of a champion is just a momentary champion for now. So, just enjoy your championship,” said Jojo.
