Taufik Hidayat Expressed The Reason Jonathan Was Canceled From Participating In The 2025 SEA Games

Jonathan Christie canceled participating in the 2025 SEA Games, selecting the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals (doc. PBSI).

JAKARTA Jonathan Christie was supposed to be in the Indonesian badminton squad for the 2025 SEA Games this month in Thailand, but instead he chose to resign so that he focused on preparing himself for the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals.

Deputy Chairperson of PBSI, Taufik Hidayat, said that Jonathan's decision to prefer to appear in the BWF World Tour Finals was a decision that must be respected.

"The crowd also entered earlier, but instead he chose to go to the BWF World Tour Finals there. So, yes, I want to do it. Anyway, this is the best (squad) even though this is a mixture between young and seniors," he said.

PBSI decided to change the squad sent to the biennial multi-pronged sporting event after Menpora Erick Thohir asked badminton to raise their target to two golds.

The request made PBSI add women's singles Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and the men's doubles Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Mohammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani to replace the positions of Raymond Indra Nikolaus Joaquin and Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan.

"So, what is the Government's target for PBSI, yes, is very reasonable. If it could be more than two gold medals, yes, thank God. Although we also know that Thailand is a full team, it is also the host," said Taufik.

The 2025 SEA Games in Thailand will take place on December 9-20. The badminton sport sent 20 players to Thailand later, consisting of 10 women and 10 men.

Previously at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, Indonesian badminton managed to become the overall champion. At that time they won five gold medals, four each from individual numbers and one from men's teams.