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India Open --- I like being a crowd-puller: Taufik Hidayat |
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Written by Badminton News
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Tuesday, 24 March 2009 10:40 |
HYDERABAD: Former Olympic and World champion Taufik Hidayat arrived in Hyderabad to take part in the India Open Grand Prix Gold Tournament
. In a f
reewheeling chat, the Indonesian, who is the most popular player in the world, discussed about the game, his swashbuckling style and his reputation of being the crowd puller.
On the reasons for accepting to come here
I like this country. I had played at Jaipur a few years back. But the reason why I am here is my sponsor Yonex. They asked me to compete in this tournament and I don’t have a reason to say no.
On his image...
Yeah I get angry. Don’t you get angry when someone insults you? It’s just the same. When people insult me I don’t like to keep quiet. That’s my way and I don’t think that’s wrong.
On being the most popular player in the world...
I always like being a crowd puller. Fortunately, all through my career I enjoyed that image. I think my attitude of being the same person on and off the court helped me to become popular.
On his chances at the Open
I think my chances are good. But we can never be sure. We have some very good players and the Indians will be dangerous opponents at home. The tall one (Anup Sridhar) who defeated me earlier, Chetan (Anand) and Aravind Bhat play well.
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India Open --- I like being a crowd-puller: Taufik Hidayat