Indonesia's long feud with the BWF President Due Garuda Team's Withdraw From All England
JAKARTA - The Indonesian team was forced to resign from All England 2021. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed in its official press release that Indonesia's decision to withdraw could not be changed.
Talking about BWF, means we have to know who the president is. Yes, this is Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen. As it turned out, this man had a long track record of 'feuding' with Indonesia.
Born September 20, 1965, Høyer Larsen is a retired Danish badminton player who won major international singles titles in the 1990s. He is among the great Danish badminton players.
In 2014, Høyer Larsen became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he has been a member of the board of the Danish Olympic Committee since 2005.
Høyer Larsen competed in three Summer Olympics. In Barcelona 1992 he was defeated in the quarter-finals by Indonesian men's singles Ardy Wiranata. This is Høyer Larsen's first 'feud' with Indonesia.
In Atlanta 1996 he won the gold medal in men's singles after defeating Dong Jiong in the final. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he lost in the opening round.
He also won two All-England Open Badminton Championships in 1995 and 1996, and a European Badminton Championship in 1992, 1994, and 1996.
Even so, he never lost to the Indonesian team in the 1996 Thomas Cup final. This is the second feud.
Høyer Larsen became President of Badminton Europe in 2010. In February 2007 he was nominated as Vice President of Danmarks's Badminton Forbund.
On 18 May 2013, Høyer Larsen was elected President of the World Badminton Federation. At that time, he competed with Indonesian representatives Justin Suhandinata. This is the third "enmity".
Even though he lost, at that time, Justin admitted that he had struggled as much as possible by traveling to five continents in search of support. He also congratulated Høyer Larsen on his selection. Very sportsmanship.
"I see that the European region is very united in providing support for Poul-Erik and he also has the support of parts of the United States", Justin said at the time.
Now, the name Høyer Larsen has surfaced again following the incident of the Indonesian team being forced to withdraw from All England 2021.
This decision was taken after the discovery of a positive case of COVID-19 on one of the plane passengers on a flight with the Red and White team.
Even though the Red and White players wiped out the victory in four matches on the first day of the All England.
Four Garuda representatives have already played their first match and won. Men's singles fifth seed Jonatan Christie beat Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-13, 24-22.
Then, the men's doubles first seed Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo aka The Minions won the rubber game 21-12, 19-21, 21-9 against the host pair Matthew Clare-Ethan Van Leeuwen.
The second seed Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan's men's doubles also won over Ben Lane-Sean Vendy in a rubber game with a score of 21-18, 19-21, 21-19.
Meanwhile, the women's doubles seeded third Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu won after their opponents, the German pair Kilasu Ostermeyer-Franziska Volkmann is withdrawn.