When we look back at the history of badminton, countless glories have been buried by the years, but some people will appear clearer under the baptism of time. Taufik. Hidayak, in the rapid development of badminton, the players have become formulaic and homogeneous today, his maverick and imaginative behavior has become more precious and nostalgic for fans.
First, the genius of heaven
Tawfik was born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1981, and after a child he did not like to play badminton alone, preferring to open and close football, but his father told him that in their country, playing football can only stay in Indonesia forever, and badminton can make him go to the world.
This has put Tawfik on the road of badminton, and he has never been a hard worker, in training, he is always lazy and lazy, but his talent can not be hidden, the talent is incomparable. He is like a villain in a film and television drama, who can carelessly beat opponents of the same age to no end.
In 1996, the 15-year-old Tawfik was selected for the Indonesian national team, which was in indonesia at its peak, and Indonesia, which was alone during the five consecutive championships of the Tang Cup, had a large number of talents such as Zorgo, Albi, Wei Renfang, Adi, Ye Chengwan and a large number of talents. But even Indonesia was shocked by the talent of the young Tawfik.
In 1998, at the age of 17, Tawfik began to compete in the world, first reaching the final four at the Asian Championships, where the masters gathered, and then at the Brunei Open, Dong Jiong, who was third in the world, and Chen Hong, who was third in the world, won his first open championship before becoming an adult, and the title of "Prodigy of the Feather Altar" went away. In 1999, the underage Tawfik defeated Olympic champion Larson at the All England Open to reach the final, and although he lost to world number one Pite Gad, for a player who was not yet 18 years old, such an achievement was enough to make the world badminton look different.
Pete Gad in his youth
In terms of the time of debut and the degree of astonishment, looking at the history of Yutan, the only one who can compete with him is the predecessor Zhao Jianhua, and both of them are indisputable geniuses.
Second, look at the world
In 2000, the 18-year-old Tawfik has become a mainstay of the badminton kingdom, he participated in the Thomas Cup for the first time, as the second singles he defeated Denmark's Larson and China's Ji Xinpeng in the semi-finals and finals respectively, scoring two key points for Indonesia, and the Indonesian team also achieved the miracle of four consecutive soup cups.
In the All England arena, he once again stood on the stage of the final, and finally lost to Xia Xuanze. After this game, his rebellious and emotional problems were also exposed. He was the runner-up in the game and got into an argument with the coach after the game, who accused him of not training seriously and affecting his physical fitness, and he even had to leave the national team in a fit of anger.
After that, he seemed to gamble and his training attitude was even worse, but he won the championship in Indonesia and Malaysia for the first time, and also climbed to the throne of the world ranking for the first time, and he seemed to want to prove to others that even if he did not train seriously, he could be the first in the world.
However, the 2000 Olympics gave the young and vigorous him a resounding slap, and Ji Xinpeng used extremely targeted balls in the quarter-finals, not to play a high ball or a net, to suppress him and his draw. Tawfik eventually failed miserably and began to fall into a low ebb.
Ji Xinpeng won the Olympics
In 2001, Tawfik reached the final four of the World Championships, facing teammate Ye Chengwan, he was injured when he was far ahead, and the indifferent attitude of the badminton association and teammates was also controversial, and Tawfik fell into a low point.
Two months later, at the Asian Championships, Tawfik also encountered his opponent, the fledgling Lin Dan, the young Lin Dan, although the technique was rough, but with terrifying physical strength and super physical fitness to suppress Tawfik. 2-0, Lin Dan won the first Lin Tao showdown.
In 2002, Indonesia completed the soup cup five consecutive titles, but Tawfik lost the point in the final match with Li Chuancheng because he was out of control and angrily threw the racket and argued with the referee. In the men's team match of the Asian Games in the same year, he once again argued with the referee and lost. But this time I think Tawfik is right, after all, in the competition hosted in South Korea, the sportsmanship of Koreans is really a day and a month to learn. It was also in the men's singles final of this Asian Games that he defeated Li Xuanyi to win the championship, and while winning the Asian Games championship, he also took revenge with an arrow.
2003 was a bit of a lackluster year for Tawfik, winning only one title at the Indonesian Open on his doorstep throughout the year. At the World Championships, he was full of ambition and encountered Bao Chunlai in the round of sixteen, and he was defeated 0-2. And at the beginning of this year, the younger Lin Dan reached the top of the world, the Chinese legion rose strongly, and Lin Dan, Xia Xuanze and Chen Hong won most of the championships of the year.
In the 2004 Soup Cup, Indonesia lost to Denmark and failed to reach the final, losing the Thomas Cup that had been held for ten years, and Tawfik, as a leading figure, was criticized by the media and the domestic badminton federation, but he still went his own way. In fact, he is not as indifferent as he seems, his competitive spirit will not lose to anyone, and he is fully focused on the upcoming Olympic Games. As a result, Tawfik, who performed mediocrely in this cycle and even failed to become a seeded player, was unstoppable in Athens, especially in the final, his agility and dashing freehand were vividly displayed, and South Korea's famous Sun Shengmo had no backhand under his back-shot and heavy killing. 2-0, the controversial Tawfik broke through the cocoon and won his coveted Olympic title.
Tawfik realizes his dream of Athens
At the 2005 World Championships, Tawfik was unstoppable, sweeping the future king Li Zongwei 2-0 in the semi-finals, and one of the sets also scored a 15-3 score. At that time, the Tao lin dispute has always been a topic of discussion between the media and fans, but in the final, Tawfik blinded Lin Dan, who entered the world series final for the first time, his psychological quality was not stable enough, and the technology in front of the net was rough, in the face of Tawfik's net adjustment and backhand splitting, Lin Dan fell behind 13-0 in the first set, and finally lost the first set 15-3, losing the championship 2-0. Tawfik also became the first Grand Slam player to integrate the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Asian Games, and the Soup Cup.
After 2006, Tawfik has begun to decline, and Lin Dan won the World Championship and the All England Championship, becoming the men's singles hegemon. At the Asian Games, Tawfik lost to Lin Dan in the men's group stage and men's team semifinals. But in the men's singles final, Tawfik once again used superb pre-netting technology to suppress Lin Dan and successfully defended his title. The confident Tawfik also said after the game that he was still the world number one.
Lin Dan and Tawfik
Third, technical characteristics
Tawfik, I personally think his strengths and weaknesses are very obvious.
Advantages:
The first is a unique, first-in-history feel. The return ball is changeable, the arbitrariness is extremely strong, and at the same time can ensure the accuracy of the tricky landing point, this kind of eclectic playing style is not trained the day after tomorrow, and what cannot be imitated is his innate characteristics. And the consistency of the splitting is high, and the fake action is natural.
The backhand easily pulls diagonally
Secondly, there is no shortcoming in the offensive technology, both Zhao Jianhua and Dong Jiong's heavy killing, and Ye Chengwan's, even comparable to the delicate touch of the doubles frontcourt player, and few people can beat him in the small ball in front of the net. This was the point that had caused Lin Dan the most headache.
In the end, everyone knows that he has the world's first backhand technology, whether it is a fatal blow or a transition, the speed of the ball is much faster than others, and the ball control is extremely accurate.
Disadvantages:
The first is physical strength. Although I don't agree that Tawfik only slipped quickly because he didn't train, because his playing style would lose his freehand features if overtrained, I agree that his lack of training system led to poor physical strength, and it was difficult to support his three high-intensity attacks.
The second is that he is emotionally serious, many times because of emotional reasons, inexplicably give up the game, and have disputes with the referee and even his own coach.
Finally, Tawfik's defense was poor. He has the feeling of an old-school player like Zhao Jianhua, who is clearly distinguished between offensive and defensive players, focusing on the whole game of attack, and relatively poor defense. In the 2005 Sudirman Cup, Lin Dan could not prevent Lin Dan from killing again.
Fourth, the sad end
After 2006, tawfik, who was just 26 years old, fell at an astonishing rate, and no major championship was recorded. Watching Lin Dan open his own era. In the 2007 World Championships, he lost to Chen Hong in the round of 32, creating the worst result of his career to participate in the World Championships, losing to Huang Zonghan in the round of 16 in the 2008 Olympic Games; losing to Chen Jin at the 2009 World Championships. Perhaps the only bright spot was that at the 2010 World Championships, he defeated Li Zongwei, who was the second in the world, but in the face of Lin Dan's early exit, he lost 0-2 to Chen Jin in the final, and finally missed the second World Championship.
Lin Tao's hand-to-hand record (Lin Dan's total victory after 2007)
In 2012, Tawfik finally met Lin Dan at the Olympic Arena, but Tawfik, who was on the verge of retirement, was not Lin Dan's opponent after all, and ended his Olympic career 0-2.
In 2013, Tawfik announced his retirement, ending his sixteen-year badminton career. From then on, Yu Tan could no longer see the amazing pre-net technology and his sunny smile. But Tawfik, the interesting soul of a maverick on and off the field, is deeply left in the memory of our generation of badminton fans.
Tawfik retires