Kunlavut will still be the number one player in men's singles - Photo: BWF
Recently, Indonesian media confirmed that at the 2025 SEA Games, the country's badminton team will only bring young athletes in the men's events.
Specifically, Indonesia's outstanding stars such as Jonatan Christie ( world rank 4), Alwi Farhan (world rank 17), or the pair Gutama - Isfahani (world rank 8)...
According to the newspaper Tribun News , the Indonesian team only aims to win gold medals in two events: women's singles and mixed doubles, with the presence of tennis players Putra Wardani, and the pair Jafar Hidayatullah/Felisha Pasaribu
In women's singles, Wardani is currently ranked 7th in the world, while in mixed doubles, the Hidayatullah/Pasaribu pair is ranked 10th in the world.
Jonatan Christie will be absent from the SEA Games - Photo: BWF
The Indonesian Badminton Federation did not specify the reason for keeping many stars at the 2025 SEA Games, but most of the badminton world knows - Indonesia wants to keep the stars in the best condition for the World Tour Finals - the annual final tournament of the badminton world.
The 2025 World Tour Finals takes place from December 17 to 21 in Hangzhou, China, and this year will especially bring together many Southeast Asian players.
Indonesia has 8 players participating in the World Tour Finals, Thailand has 5, while Malaysia has 10 players, evenly spread across the doubles events.
Unlike Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have declared that they "will send their strongest squad" to the 2025 SEA Games.
Host country Thailand has scheduled the badminton tournament from December 10 to 15. The purpose is to give their strong players time to fly to China to prepare for the World Tour Finals.
However, the fact that the two tournaments are taking place so close together has made fans doubt the chances of Thai and Malaysian athletes. Experts believe that both Thai and Malaysian players will reach their peak performance at the World Tour Finals, instead of the 2025 SEA Games.
In addition, both badminton teams of this country have experienced quite serious "internal turmoil" recently.
With Thailand, a series of their strong tennis players such as Chochuwong and Intanon have spoken out in criticism. The National Badminton Federation for making things difficult for its athletes. Some other athletes even filed complaints.
Malaysian tennis players also face many difficulties - Photo: BWF
As for Malaysia, the team's stars unexpectedly encountered a wave of "cyber attacks" from fans this month.
On social media, thousands of negative comments flooded in, targeting every post by Malaysian tennis players, forcing federation officials, as well as legends like Lee Chong Wei, to come forward to defend the athletes.
Both of these incidents have more or less affected the competitive mentality of star tennis players from Thailand and Malaysia.
Southeast Asia is famous as the "cradle" of badminton, with many Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean players among the world's top.
But with the rapid developments in recent times, the badminton competition at SEA Games 33 promises to become unpredictable.
Vietnam is far behind the three countries mentioned above in badminton. At the 2023 SEA Games, Vietnam did not win any medals. At the 2021 SEA Games, Vietnam won 3 bronze medals.
Throughout the history of the SEA Games, Indonesia is the number one badminton power in Southeast Asia, having won 119 gold medals, followed by Malaysia (50 gold medals), Thailand (39 gold medals), while Vietnam has never won a gold medal.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhieu-dien-bien-khien-cau-long-tro-nen-kho-luong-tai-sea-games-33-20251128073449484.htm
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