Greysia Polii's Tears Broke When She Said Goodbye To Badminton

Greysia Polii hugging her colleague Apriyani Rahayu. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Greysia Polii has finally officially decided to retire after 30 years of career in the badminton world.

The 34-year-old athlete could not hide the sadness at the end of her farewell event.

The farewell event entitled "Greysia Polii Testimonial Day" was held at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Sunday, June 12.

Greysia's eyes glazed over as she bid farewell after delivering her speech.

"I remember very well in 2001, when I was 14 years old when I first played at Istora. That was when my dream began," said Greysia in her speech in front of thousands of people.

"I also still remember in 2008, where this place became a place full of memories for me, namely the Uber Cup team was able to enter the final at that time," continued Greysia.

Greysia started her badminton career when she was 5 years old.

She then joined the PB Jaya Raya club before joining the PBSI Pelatnas in 2001.

During her career in badminton, Greysia gave Indonesia a series of prestigious titles.

At its peak, she won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Apriyani Rahayu.

"The journey of 30 years has not been easy. Not infrequently I feel very tired and really want to not continue. It was inconceivable that I could go this far. Day after day I kept forcing myself to do the best that I could," she said.

At the farewell event, Greysia played an exhibition match with other professional athletes.

Joining the event were Hendra Setiawan, Jonatan Christie, Tai Yzu Ying, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Wang Chi-lin, Sapsiree Taerattanachai, and Yuta Watanabe.

The farewell ceremony was held before the final of the Indonesia Masters 2022 which will be held today.

In total, Indonesia has two representatives who will compete in the final party, namely the women's doubles Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, and the men's doubles Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

Apriyani herself previously won the tournament in 2020 when she was still paired with Greysia.