Mumbai: Indonesia’s badminton legend, Rudy Hartono, winner of a record eight All England Championship titles, was providing brief training to young badminton players at badminton academy run by the Hatsun Group, in southern Tamil Nadu, India on Friday.
When he was asked whether the six-time All England champion Lin Dan would be able to break his All England feats, the 69-year-old said: “Lin Dan is 35 and is getting slower. Sure, Lin Dan can claim he has a lot of experience, but I have a lot of experience too, it does not mean I can compete now and win in any tournaments.”
“The sport need some new players, and if Lin Dan continue to win at his age, it may not be good for badminton,” added Hartono.
The 69-year-old who won a record eight All England championships, including seven consecutively from 1968 to 1974, said India’s World No. 6 women’s singles player PV Sindhu has a high chance of winning gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Sindhu is only 23, she lost two years ago in the final, but she will reach her prime in 2020, and she has a good chance of winning gold in Tokyo.”
“Sindhu is a world-class attacking style player. But she really need to mix her strategy with other type of playing style. Because, too much attacks, your opponent would know that if you don’t get a point, you are bound to commit mistakes. Furthermore, that also consume a lot energy.”
The Hatsun Badminton Centre will launch an exchange program with Hartono’s badminton academy in Indonesia. The program is set to begin from February next year with players from the Indonesian Centre visiting the Hatsun Badminton Centre first.
