Taufik Hidayat

 

Taufik Hidayat. [File photo]

Legendary Indonesian badminton player Taufik Hidayat retired after being defeated by India's unseeded B. Sai Praneeth in the first round of the Indonesian Open.

The 32-year-old won many international championships during his 17-year career, including men's singles gold medals in the Asian Games in 2002 Busan, South Korea and 2006 Doha, Qatar. The highlight of his career was winning a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

After winning in Athens, he became World Champion in 2005 in Anaheim, the United States. In the Asian Championships, Taufik won gold in 2000, 2003 and 2004.

Throughout his brilliant career, Taufik was an arch-rival of Malaysian World No.1 Lee Chong Wei and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.