2024 Olympics: Gregoria Mariska Still Keeps Indonesia's Hope

JAKARTA The women's singles badminton player, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, maintains Indonesia's hope by getting a ticket to the quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 24-year-old athlete qualified after stopping South Korean representative, Kim Ga-eun, through a rubber game with a score of 21-4, 8-21, and 23-21 on Friday, August 2, 2024, early morning WIB.

This victory made Indonesia's dream to get a medal in Paris alive. The reason is, Gregoria is the only remaining badminton player from six representatives who qualified for France.

This victory also made Gregoria maintain a record of always winning against Kim. In total, this is the ninth victory he has bagged over the 26-year-old badminton player.

Furthermore, in the quarter-finals, this badminton player from Wonogiri will meet Thailand's representative, Ratchanok Intanon. On paper, Gregoria has a winning-loss record of 1-8.

Gregoria's only win came in their final clash in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Uber Cup in early May 2024.

Gregoria must at least reach the final round to keep badminton from repeating bad dreams at the Olympics. Previously, this sport had a dark record in the 2012 London issue.

At that time, this branch did not bring home a single medal. It was the darkest edition for badminton since it was first competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Five Indonesian representatives who had previously lifted their suitcases from Paris were Jonatan Christie, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, and Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.