Marcus Gideon Announces Racket Suspension

Indonesian men's doubles badminton (The Minions) Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (right) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (left)/DOK BETWEEN PHOTOs/Muhammad Adimaja

JAKARTA - Former world number one men's doubles playerMarcus Fernaldi Gideon announced his retirement from his professional badminton career which he has been involved in for approximately 25 years.

"Today, at the age of 33, I decided to quit my badminton professional career. It doesn't feel like I've been training and competing in the field for 25 years," Marcus said, quoted from his official Instagram social media account quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, March 9.

Marcus expressed his gratitude to God, who according to him had a very big role as long as he fought as an athlete.

He told a story as a child, where he was underestimated because he had a body posture that was not high and an achievement that was considered 'ordinary' at that time.

"In this life, I have nothing to regret, what I have achieved now, has even exceeded what I had dreamed of," said Marcus.

One of those dreams is to become the number one badminton player in the world, which in the end he can achieve with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. Marcus/Kevin or the partner who is familiarly called The Minions was even able to maintain the top position for four years.

"I once said to my wife when we were still dating, 'I want to be World No. 1,'. Because at that time being ranked first was something that was very difficult to work on, but God gave, even more than I imagined," said Marcus.

"Therefore, I closed my career in the badminton world with a heart that was satisfied and grateful," he added.

During his 25 years as a badminton player, he and Kevin were recognized by BWF as one of the strongest players and were awarded the BWF Best Men's badminton title for two consecutive years after collecting seven BWF Superseries titles in 2017 and eight World Tour titles in 2018.

The Minions have garnered 19 wins and six runners-up at the BWF World Tour since 2018. Some of them are the All England Open 2018, Indonesia Open 2018, Indonesia Open 2019, China Open 2019, to the BWF World Tour Finals 2021.

At BWF Superseries, Marcus has collected 11 wins and two runners ups. One of them was his victory with the late Indonesian badminton legend Markis Kido at the French Open 2013.

While with Kevin, he won several Superseries tournaments such as the 2016 China Open, the 2017 Malaysia Open, to the 2017 Dubai World Superseries Finals.

"I thank my partners, the late Markis Kido, Kevin, and others," said Marcus.

"Not to forget I also thank the supporters who have supported me so far. God bless!" he added.