Marcus Fernaldi Gideon

Gideon started his career in badminton at the Tangkas Jakarta club when he was 9 years old. At the age of 13, he began playing professionally, and at the same time, he received a scholarship in Singapore. Four months later in Singapore, he returned to Indonesia because of illness, and decided not to continue his education abroad. He was again trained by his father, as a singles and doubles player.[7] Gideon won his first international title in the men's singles discipline at the Victorian International a Future Series event.[8]

Gideon was selected to join the national training centre in Cipayung, in the men's doubles team in 2010. Partnered with Agripina Prima Rahmanto Putra, he won the 2011 Singapore and 2012 Iran International tournaments,[9] and also finished as the runners-up in 2012 Vietnam and Osaka International. Feeling disappointed with the PBSI decision in the sending players to the international tournaments, Gideon decided to leave the national training centre in 2013.[7][9]

Gideon then returned to the court as an independent player paired with the Beijing 2008 gold medalist, Markis Kido. The duo reached the semifinals at the 2013 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold losing to national players Ronald Alexander and Selvanus Geh in straight games.[10] He captured his first Superseries title at the 2013 French Open with Kido, played from the qualification stage, and beat the seeded pairs in their journey to reach the men's doubles podium.[11] Gideon and Kido, reached the semifinals at the 2014 All England Open, and then won their second title at the 2014 Indonesia Masters defeating Selvanus Geh and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final with the rubber games.[7][12]

Seeing his achievements with Markis Kido, Gideon was invited by PBSI to rejoin the national team.[9] In early 2015, he was paired with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, ending the years by occupying the top 20 BWF World Ranking, grabbing one title at the Chinese Taipei Masters.[13] At the Chinese Taipei Open in July, Gideon and Sukamuljo reached the final by defeating then World Champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan,[14] but they failed to take the title, losing the final tamely to Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan.[15] After this tournament, Indonesian badminton fans dub them as "the Minions" because of their below average height and for their fast and agile playing style, jumping and bouncing just like the Minions in the film Despicable Me.[16][17] The former badminton player who is currently a BWF commentator, Gillian Clark, also highlighted that the fast play shown by Gideon and Sukamuljo have taken the men's doubles game to a new level and makes the matches exciting to watch.[18] Gideon also participated at the Southeast Asian Games, clinched the gold medal in the men's team event and a silver medal in the men's doubles event.[19]

Gideon and Sukamuljo started their 2016 tour by winning the Malaysia Masters,[20] their performance continued to improve and they won the Superseries title in India and Australia, followed by the Superseries Premier title in China.[21] At the end of 2016, he and Sukamuljo reached the top 10 world ranking, and qualified to compete at the BWF Superseries Finals held in Dubai. The duo failed to advance to the knock out stage after standing in the third position in the group stage, having won a match against their compatriots Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi, and losing two matches to Danish and Japanese pairs.[22]

In 2019, Gideon and Sukamuljo were nominated for the Best Male Player award, but failed to retain the award after being defeated by Kento Momota.[23]

In July 2021, Gideon competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics partnering Sukamuljo as first seed. The duo led the group standings after won two matches and lost a match.[24] Gideon and Sukamuljo were eliminated from the competition by Malaysian pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarter-finals.[25]

In September–October, Gideon alongside Indonesia team competed at the 2021 Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland. The team advanced to the knocked-out stage, but stopped in the quarter-finals to Malaysia.[26] In the next tournament in Aarhus, Denmark, he helped Indonesia team reached the final of the World Men's Team Championships, and the team won the 2020 Thomas Cup.[27] In the next tournament, Gideon and Sukamuljo played at the BWF World Tour in Denmark, French, and Hylo Opens.[28][29] The duo ended the tour by winning the Hylo Open.[29] At the Indonesia badminton festival, they finished as runner-up in the Indonesia Masters and triumph in the Indonesia Open.[30] This was their three successive victory at the Indonesia Open following on from success in 2018 and 2019.[31] Their achievements in 2021, lead them as the first seed in the BWF World Tour Finals.[32]

Gideon is the son of former national badminton player, Kurniahu.[33] He married a general practitioner, Agnes Amelinda Mulyadi on 14 April 2018.[34] His first son Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Jr. was born in January 2019.[35]

Key

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.

Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo have ten winning streaks in the head-to-head record against Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. They also lead the meeting record with a wide margin against Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China and their senior compatriots Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. Meanwhile, Sukamuljo and Gideon have a poor head-to-head record against Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe (2–6), Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong (0–3), and also Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan (1–3).[50]

Players M W L Diff. Chai Biao & Hong Wei 5 3 2 +1 Fu Haifeng & Zhang Nan 4 1 3 –2 He Jiting & Tan Qiang 8 7 1 +6 Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen 13 11 2 +9 Liu Cheng & Zhang Nan 7 5 2 +3 Liu Xiaolong & Qiu Zihan 1 1 0 +1 Chen Hung-ling & Wang Chi-lin 5 5 0 +5 Lee Yang & Wang Chi-lin 4 3 1 +2 Kim Astrup & Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 9 8 1 +7 Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen 9 5 4 +1 Marcus Ellis & Chris Langridge 5 5 0 +5 Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan 13 11 2 +9 Fajar Alfian & Muhammad Rian Ardianto 9 6 3 +3

Players M W L Diff. Hiroyuki Endo & Kenichi Hayakawa 1 0 1 –1 Hiroyuki Endo & Yuta Watanabe 8 2 6 –4 Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi 13 11 2 +9 Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda 16 11 5 +6 Aaron Chia & Soh Wooi Yik 10 8 2 +6 Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong 8 7 1 +6 Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong 3 3 0 +3 Ong Yew Sin & Teo Ee Yi 7 7 0 +7 Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov 7 7 0 +7 Kim Gi-jung & Kim Sa-rang 1 1 0 +1 Ko Sung-hyun & Shin Baek-cheol 4 2 2 0 Lee Yong-dae & Yoo Yeon-seong 3 0 3 –3

Markis Kido

Players M W L Diff. Chai Biao & Hong Wei 2 0 2 –2 Fu Haifeng & Zhang Nan 1 1 0 +1 Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen 1 1 0 +1 Liu Xiaolong & Qiu Zihan 3 1 2 –1 Chen Hung-ling & Wang Chi-lin 1 0 1 –1 Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen 2 1 1 0 Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan 3 0 3 –3 Fajar Alfian & Muhammad Rian Ardianto 1 1 0 +1

Players M W L Diff. Hiroyuki Endo & Kenichi Hayakawa 1 1 0 +1 Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda 2 2 0 +2 Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong 1 0 1 –1 Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong 1 1 0 +1 Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov 1 0 1 –1 Ko Sung-hyun & Shin Baek-cheol 3 2 1 +1 Lee Yong-dae & Yoo Yeon-seong 1 0 1 –1

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.

• Marcus Fernaldi Gideon at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com