Source: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
[Saba Sports News] The men’s singles group stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics badminton competition has concluded. The heavily favored 3rd seed, Jonatan Christie, unexpectedly lost to Indian player Lakshya Sen. The defending Olympic bronze medalist and 9th seed, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, also suffered a surprise defeat against French player Toma Junior Popov. As a result, the Indonesian men’s singles players were all eliminated in the group stage, which left the Indonesian Badminton Association disappointed. After the match, Jonatan apologized to all Indonesian people on behalf of the Indonesian badminton team and thanked everyone for their support. Jonatan mentioned that he did not perform well in the game. He admitted to becoming impatient after taking a lead and made some mistakes in crucial points. He tried to speed up and strengthen his attacks during the match, but it was not effective. After being eliminated in the group stage, he had mixed feelings and couldn’t express them in words. Some fans commented that the atmosphere of the Olympics is different from any other competition, and all athletes bear tremendous burden and pressure. They used to think that Malaysian players had poor mental attitudes, but now it seems that the Indonesian team, especially the players, need to seek the help of sports psychologists as their ability to withstand pressure is lacking.