JAKARTA The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) officially recruited Nova Widianto to occupy a mixed doubles coach position with a contract duration of two years.
The appointment of Nova has been confirmed by BAM on its official website on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at noon WIB.
"The Malaysian Badminton Association (BAM) today announced that Nova, 45, has signed a 2-year contract to handle mixed doubles," the BAM said in a statement.
Nova will start his work at BAM next month. He is definitely tasked with bringing Malaysian mixed doubles into the 2024 Paris Olympics later.
"The Malaysian mixed doubles players are very happy with the prospect of having a Nova caliber coach who can help them," said BAM Deputy Coach Rexy Mainaky.
"The knowledge and volume of Nova's experience will be very valuable for today's players, especially with the Paris Olympics qualifying competition starting next year," he added.
Nova is a former Indonesian badminton specialist in mixed doubles as well as men's doubles. During his activity, he was recorded as paired with Vita Marissa, Lilyana Natsir, and also Candra Wijaya.
He won the 2001 SEA Games, the 2003 Asian Badminton Championships, and the 2004 Japan Open with Vita in the mixed doubles class.
His most flashy career was when he was paired with Lilyana Natsir. When paired, they won the World Championships twice in 2005 and 2007 and won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics.
They also successfully brought home the 2009 BWF World Championships. This achievement made Nova/Lilyana once named the best mixed doubles badminton player in the world.
However, at the time of the reshuffle, Lilyana was transferred to pair up with Tontowi Ahmad, Nova was again partnered with Vita. In addition, Nova is part of the men's doubles team for the 2008 Thomas Cup with Candra Wijaya.
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