Liliyana Natsir targets gold medal at Olympic Games to complete her legacy – Badminton news
Indonesia’s Mixed Doubles shuttler Liliyana Natsir, who with her partner Tontowi Ahmad has recently bagged All England Open Title, targets to win gold medal at Olympic Games in order to complete her legacy.
The World Number Four Liliyana has won all major titles in the world of badminton including World Championships and now wants to win the crown at Olympic Games, the only missing title in her legacy.
In the title match of last week’s All England Open, Liliyana and Tontowi grabbed their first ever Mixed Doubles title in this prestigious tournament.
They outplayed Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn of Denmark in the final showdown and claimed their first title of current year.
It was a straight-set contest in which the Indonesians proved their supremacy in the court and thrashed their Danish challengers with a 21-17 and 21-19 score on the board.
Liliyana expressed that this victory in All England Open has given the pair a much needed elevation and confidence. Now, her major target is to win a gold medal in Mixed Doubles category at 2012 Olympic Games.
While talking about her feelings after winning the crown at All England Open, Liliyana said that she is happy but will not carry away with this victory as there are bigger challenges ahead.
She said, “This is an incredible achievement for us, winning the All England. But we don’t want to get carried away with this victory because a tougher task lies ahead for us at the Olympics.”
She further added, “After winning the All England, an Olympic gold would complete my career, because then I would have won every single major title available in badminton. Now the pressure to bring home the gold is on us but we will use that as motivation.”
Liliyana and Tontowi are currently placed at number four in Mixed Doubles world placements.
However, they are expected to get closer to their higher ranked shuttlers when Badminton World Federation (BWF) updates world rankings on Thursday.
In order to get a good seeding in Mixed Doubles draw at Olympic Games, Liliyana and Tontowi are confident to continue their winning run in the forthcoming tournaments.
Tags: