Taufik Hidayat struggles to impress on the court in 2011
Indonesia’s former World Champion and Olympic gold medallist, Taufik Hidayat, is one of the most complete and stylish shuttlers that the world of badminton has ever produced. He has been proving his mettle in the court by playing against the best players
and has remained in the top-10 bracket in the Men’s Singles world rankings for the last couple of years.
However, the 30-year-old Taufik has been struggling hard to get back to his killing form as he failed to win any major tournament in the current year, which is quite alarming as it is the qualifying round for 2012 London Olympics, and earning a good seed
in the mega event is very important.
World Number Nine ranked Taufik, who, throughout his career, has been earning glory by winning all major international tournaments by beating all top-class shuttlers from China, Malaysia, Korea and Denmark. However, he is dropping in the world ranking because
of his quivering performance during the last year.
He is the best in Indonesia as no other shuttler at present is capable enough to replace him as young shuttlers lack the impressive touch to become world beaters. The gradual decline of Taufik is alarming for the country because currently, other shuttlers
in the national team do not have the ability to beat top players of the world including Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan and Chen Long.
In the opening tournament of the year, BWF Super Series Finals, Taufik failed to deliver well and was unable to win any match. However, he produced good form in the Malaysia Open Super Series and finished as a runner-up by losing to the top seed, Chong Wei.
In the 2011 Korea Open Premier Super Series, Taufik failed to pass through the quarter-final stage. At the All England Open, he crashed out of the tournament in the opening round of the event. In the following event of the 2011 India Open Super Series, the
Indonesian again failed to perform well as he lost his match at the quarter-final stage. He also failed to play well in the 2011 Singapore Open, where he lost his match in the Men’s Singles round-of-16.
In the home event of the 2011 Indonesia Open Super Series, Taufik lost his fight at the quarter-final stage and the result remained the same in the following tournament of the 2011 US Open Grand Prix Gold. He also failed to win the next tournament, 2011
Canada Open, where he lost in the title match.
At the 2011 World Championships, the Indonesian hero failed to live up to expectations as he lost to an un-seeded Singaporean shuttler in the second round. In the 2011 Japan Open Super Series, Taufik again failed to play well as he lost his opening round
match. In the following event of 2011 Indonesia Open GP Gold, Taufik lost to his compatriot in the semi-final clash.
Taufik also failed to earn a good result in the 2011 Denmark Open Premier Super Series, where he lost to a young Danish shuttler in the second round. At the 2011 French Open Super Series, Taufik failed to defend his title as he lost his first-round fight
against a Chinese shuttler.
The mighty Indonesian is struggling hard to find good from as he desperately needs to win a tournament for getting his confidence back before the Olympic Games.
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