GLASGOW, SUNDAY – Finding new ways to motivate senior athletes who have already won numerous titles is not easy. However, this is an important factor when an athlete has decided to pursue a long career in sports.
Tontowi Ahmad, 30, Liliyana Natsir, 31, Mohammad Ahsan, 29, and Lin Dan (China), 33, are winners of numerous titles who are still able to maintain their motivation to compete in the tough world arena of badminton. They are all in the finals of the 2017 World Championship at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday (27/8).
In tennis, Roger Federer, who is now 36 years old, is still able to win Grand Slam titles. His love for tennis has taken him to the champion’s podium in the Australian Open and Wimbledon 2017.
At the World Badminton Championship, Indonesian men’s doubles player Ahsan, who is paired with Rian Agung Saputro, will be the only non-seeded pair playing in the final. They will be facing eighth-seeded pair Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan (China) for the title in the early morning on Monday, Indonesia time.
“We did not expect to be playing in the final. From this experience, I learned a lesson from Ahsan on how to play calmly, not always playing fast and wasting energy,” said Rian, who was interviewed ahead of the final.
Ahsan, who is three years older than Rian, is one of the most senior players at the national badminton training camp in Cipayung, along with Tontowi, Liliyana and Greysia Polii (women’s doubles).
The final at Emirates Arena will be Ahsan’s third World Championship final, having won the men’s doubles in 2013 and 2015 with Hendra Setiawan. Another of his great feats is winning the 2014 All England championship, also with Hendra.
Although he has collected several titles at major tournaments, Ahsan’s motivation had not receded. When Hendra decided to pull out from the Cipayung national training camp in December 2016, Ahsan chose to remain at the training center, which has produced some world-class Indonesian badminton players.
Men’s doubles coach Herry Iman Pierngadi tasked Ahsan with improving the skills of younger players by pairing him with two of them: Berry Angriawan and then Rian. The two players also had experience playing as a pair with Hendra.
Starting out in early 2017 with a ranking of 116th in the world, Ahsan/Rian needed to start playing in minor tournaments in order to collect the required points. They won the International Challenge (three levels below the World Championship) in January in China, but have not managed to get through the second round in major competitions, such as the Super Series/Premier.
Their performance in Glasgow was their best feat since they were first paired in November 2016.”For me, what is important is to continue to work hard, even though these days I also try to enjoy the game more,” Ahsan said.
Kompas/Priyombodo
Tontowi Ahmad
Maintaining motivation
Upon deciding to pursue a career as a professional athlete, Ahsan realized that he had to maintain his motivation, especially as Ahsan commutes from his house in BSD, South Tangerang, to Cipayung, East Jakarta.
“It’s both hard and easy to maintain motivation, but it all depends on ourselves,” said Ahsan.
Liliyana also stressed the need to enjoy the game more, but also to maintain the motivation to always play well, after winning the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with Tontowi. This mentality has helped Owi/Butet, as they are called, to reach the finals in Glasgow, where they will face Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen of China. This will be their second World Championship final, having previously been crowned champions in 2013.
This will be Butet’s fifth final. Of her three other finals, she emerged victorious in two, playing alongside Nova Widhianto. If she wins the final in Glasgow for a fourth title, Butet will become the Indonesian badminton player with the most world championship titles.
Lin Dan also stressed that age had not hindered him from achieving success. “Everybody is talking about age, but I have proven that I can still play at a high level,” he said, ahead of his final against Viktor Axelsen (Denmark).
Meanwhile, young talents Chen Qinchen/Jia Yifan of China won the women’s doubles and Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) came away with women’s singles title.
