Time for Tontowi-Liliyana to redeem themselves
Indonesia's mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir have waited four years to make up for the heartbreak they suffered at the 2012 London Olympics. Now, the time has come to redeem themselves at the Rio Olympics.
"Frankly the 'pain' of not winning a medal at the last Olympics (London) is still there. We had the chance to win the bronze at least but even that we could not achieve after we lost in the semi-finals," said Tontowi. "After we lost our semi-final match we were down and that led to our disastrous outing in London where we finished empty handed."
However, the veteran Indonesian pair hope to put things right in Rio although it will not "be a cruise" in a competitive field led by defending champions Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei who are also the top seeds.
South Korea's Ko Sung-hyun-Kim Ha-na are seeded second while Tontow-Liliyana are seeded third. Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinne Pedersen are the fourth seeds.
The Indonesian badminton team has been training in Sao Paulo since July 27 and left for Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (Aug 7). The badminton competition gets underway at the Rio Centro - Pavilion 4 on Aug 11.
Tontowi also revealed another reason for their failure in London; they were too focused on winning the gold.
"We were too focused on the gold...so much so when we lost in the semis we lost the zest and let the bronze slip from us in the playoff."
In the semi-finals Tontowi-Liliyana lost to Xu Chen-Ma Jin who setup an all-China final in the mixed doubles against compatriots Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei with the latter winning gold 21-11, 21-17.
In the bronze playoff Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinne Padersen beat Tontowi-Liliyana 21-12, 21-12.
"What hurt more is that we had beaten the Danish pair regularly and the defeat in the playoff left us with a bitter pill to swallow. We were really down after failing to make the final and that is why we had no drive in our game for the bronze medal.
"We learned from our London mistakes and hope to make up in Rio," said Tontowi who won this year's Malaysia Open Superseries with Liliyana.
Indonesia have two pairs in the mixed doubles in Rio. The other pair is Praveen Jordan-Debby Susanto - the reigning All-England champions.
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