Jakarta: Rexy Mainaky, Herry Iman Pierngadi, and Christian Hadinata are among the biggest names in the history of badminton men’s doubles.
They are also well-qualified individuals who could provide the most important piece of constructive feedback to the World No. 1 men’s doubles pair, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia after their dismal performance at the recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Rexy Mainaky who won the men’s doubles Olympic gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with Ricky Subagja is currently the head coach of the Thailand badminton national team. Mainaky said that lack of mental toughness was the reason Sukamuljo/Gideon could not go far at the Tokyo Games.
The World No. 1 pair, also famously known as “the Minions”, started the Olympic group stage convincingly as they beat Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of Great Britain and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India in straight-sets. However, they ran into their first hurdle after losing to the eventual gold medalists – Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan 18-21, 21-15, and 17-21 in their last group stage match.
Rexy Mainaky told Kompas that the defeat in the group stage had impacted Marcus/Kevin’s confidence in the quarter-finals against Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
“The defeat to the Taiwanese pair had affected them when they played against the Malaysian pair in the last eight. In other words, there was more pressure in the quarter-finals because they were already in the knockout round. Marcus and Kevin couldn’t defend, they couldn’t even play net. So they really didn’t know what to do.”
“My coach, Christian Hadinata, helped me and Ricky Subagja to be strong in both technical and non-technical aspects during the Atlanta Olympics, such as psychology. That’s the most important thing at this level,” explained Rexy Mainaky.
Herry Iman Pierngadi who is currently coaching Sukamuljo/Gideon, also admitted: “the Minions” were choking under pressure.
“Yes, they couldn’t get out of pressure, both of them were tense and were playing poorly, it’s very unusual. On the other hand, their opponents were very comfortable, enjoying the match, relax and gave everything they have,” admitted Pierngadi.
“Of course, several technical factors such as serves that were faulted, lack of warm-up matches before the competition, and opponents who were playing well also affected their performance,” said Pierngadi.
Meanwhile, Christian Hadinata also believed that “the Minions” were not able to overcome pressure at the Tokyo Games.
“On paper, Kevin and Marcus are superior in technically against Lee/Wang and Chia/Soh. But they have not been able to overcome the pressure. I hope they will keep playing until the 2024 Paris Olympics. Then they will be better prepared.”
“Both of them may be facing more unpredictable factors as they will get older at the Paris Games,” Sukamuljo is currently 26 years old while Gideon is 30 years old.
