Liliyana Natsir

Liliyana Natsir (born 9 September 1985 in Manado, Indonesia) is a female badminton player from Indonesia who specializes in doubles. She is listed as one of the best mixed doubles players in the world. In Indonesia, she is often considered the queen of mixed doubles thanks to her achievements with two different pairs. Her current partner is Tontowi Ahmad since 2011, after separating from her previous partner, Nova Widianto. In 2013, she made history by becoming the first female player to win three BWF World Championships in the mixed doubles.

Early life

Natsir had dreamed of being a badminton athlete since childhood. She started playing badminton at the age of nine at her local badminton club in Manado. Three years later, she decided to move to Jakarta and entered her youth club, Tangkas Alfamart. She joined the national badminton team of Indonesia in 2002 together with Natalia Poluakan, her longtime friend from Manado. When she and Poluakan won the women's doubles title in Pekan Olahraga Nasional (National Games), Richard Mainaky noticed her game and invited her to play in mixed doubles with Nova Widianto.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour"), officially Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is known for its skyline and deep natural harbour. It has a land area of 1104 km² and shares its northern border with Guangdong Province of Mainland China. With around 7.2 million inhabitants of various nationalities, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong remained under British control for about a century until the Second World War, when Japan occupied the colony from December 1941 to August 1945. After the Surrender of Japan, the British resumed control. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy on 1 July 1997 under the principle of one country, two systems. Disputes over the perceived misapplication of this principle have contributed to popular protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.

Tontowi Ahmad

Tontowi Ahmad (born 18 July 1987 in Banyumas) is an Indonesian badminton player. He resides in the Central Java province. He is from PB. Djarum, a badminton club in Kudus, Central Java and joined the club in 2005.

Tontowi Ahmad rose to prominence in the world badminton in 2010 when he paired with the established mixed doubles star Lilyana Natsir.

Achievements

Olympic Games

2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom

Tontowi Ahmad competed in badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Mixed doubles with partner Lilyana Natsir and finished fourth at the end.

Asian Games

Mixed Doubles

Southeast Asian Games

Mixed Doubles

BWF World Championships

2015 BWF World Championships at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia

2013 BWF World Championships at the Tianhe Sports Center in Guangzhou, China

2011 BWF World Championships at the Wembley Arena in London, England

Badminton Asia Championships

Mixed Doubles

BWF Superseries (11 titles, 8 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the BWF Superseries Finals held at the year end.

Mixed Doubles

Mixed Doubles or mixed doubles may refer to:

Sports

Entertainment

Badminton

Badminton is a racket sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players per side). Badminton is often played as a casual outdoor activity in a yard or on a beach; formal games are played on a rectangular indoor court. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the opposing side's half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. Play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or (in their absence) the opposing side.

The shuttlecock is a feathered or (in informal matches) plastic projectile which flies differently from the balls used in many other sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly. Shuttlecocks also have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports.