Christian Hadinata declares duo of Tontowi, Liliyana their biggest hope in London Olympics
The national head coach of Indonesia Christian Hadinata declared the mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir their biggest hope in London Olympics, set to be held from July 27, 2012.
It is not party time yet for Swiss Open mixed doubles champs as great wins brought great responsibilities as well. After the successful run in two consecutive European events, the All-England and the Swiss Open, whole country is hoping them to fetch a medal
in the mega event.
The World Number four pair was striving to revive their old chemistry for last few months and they finally registered their presence in the arena by clinching the crown in the world’s oldest badminton event, the All England Open and later doubled the joy
in the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold.
The national head coach Christian Hadinata believes that his mixed doubles experts will take the country back to past glory by repeating the history in London Olympics as well. He intends to give special attention to them in coming days.
The coach said, “We acknowledge that they are probably our only chance to win gold medal in London. So, we have to take a good care of them. Their top priority is the Olympic.”
The Indonesian pair Tontowi-Liliyana will really feel the pressure being the solo hope for the medal in the Olympics as the reigning Men’s doubles Olympic Champion pair Markis Kido- Hendra Setiawan have not been in prime touch and constantly losing their
class at the international level.
Meanwhile, former Men’s singles World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat also has very few chances in presence of super powers like Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei.
In recent Swiss Open, the top seeded mixed doubles pair Tontowi-Liliyana was the only team who took country into finals as Taufik Hidayat and men’s doubles pair Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Aprida lost in the semi-finals of the event.
The team of Tontowi and Liliyana has a packed schedule before the Olympics as they are going to compete in Australian Open and Asian Championships before they defend their title in India Open in April 2012.
The female member of duo Liliyana may have to play Uber Cup finals in China from May 20-27 but it is not confirmed yet as national head coach Christian has shown his intentions to drop them from few events just to give them a relaxed and fresh start in London
Olympics.
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