Jakarta: The Rio Olympic mixed doubles gold medalist Tontowi Ahmad made a surprising decision ahead of the BWF World Tour European tournaments as the mixed doubles specialist has decided to resign from the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) at the end of March 2020.
PBSI’s mixed doubles coach, Richard Mainaky told reporters the news on Monday.
Richard said that the 32-year-old badminton player has conveyed his resignation plan via WhatsApp on February 11, 2020.
The reason Ahmad picked the end of March for his resignation was because his contracts with several sponsors are ending in March.
“Good evening coach. Sorry in advance, when all my contracts ended, I would like to resign and to retire,” wrote Tontowi Ahmad via WhatsApp chat to Richard Mainaky.
“Thank you coach for helping me accomplished what I have achieved,” Ahmad wrote in his message.
Indonesia’s Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali also opened up about Tontowi Ahmad’s retirement from PBSI.
“First of all, I would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution to the Indonesian Badminton National Team. We really appreciate the extraordinary efforts of Tontowi Ahmad,” said Amali.
“All athletes have age limit. Even though we would like to see him continue playing, but, we all respect and appreciate his decision,” added Amali.
