PBSI Has Not Received An Official Decision On Marcus Gideon's Retirement

Marcus Gideon (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - PP PBSI Daily Chair Alex Tirta said he had not received an official decision from Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. Where Gideon has just announced his retirement from badminton, Saturday, March 9.

"PP PBSI received news from social media that Marcus Fernaldi Gideon decided to retire as a professional badminton athlete. However, PP PBSI has not officially accepted the decision from Marcus Fernaldi Gideon in verbal or written form," Alex said quoting Antara.

Furthermore, Alex said he highly respects Marcus' decision. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon's 'precision and dedication to the glory of Indonesia's badminton achievements is unquestionable," said Alex.

Currently, the federation is still waiting for further communication from the world's former world number one men's doubles player regarding the next steps.

"PP PBSI is still waiting for further communication from Marcus Fernaldi Gideon to take the next steps," said Alex.

Previously, Marcus announced through his official social media account that he decided to end his career as a professional badminton player that he had been living for 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," said Marcus.

During his 25 years as badminton players, he and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo were recognized by BWF as one of the strongest players, and were awarded the BWF Best Male Badminton Title this year 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 2019, to the BWF World Tour Finals 2021.

In the 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.

He and Kevin are also the longest men's doubles to sit in the world number one for at least four years.