Taufik Hidayat reveals he was offered bribe to throw away 2006 Asian Games semifinal against Lee Chong Wei
Follow Us
Taufik Hidayat
Olympic and Asina Games gold medallist Taufik Hidayat has made a shocking revelation. Hidayat revealed that he was offered a bribe to fix his match against Lee Chong Wei during the 2006 Asian Games. In a TV interview, the ace Indonesian shuttler opened up about the incident.
Hidayat shares that an official from the Badminton Association of Malaysia offered him a bribe to lose the semi-final match against Lee. At the time, the Indonesian government had put up a reward of around 225 million rupiahs (roughly 15,630 USD) for Taufik if he won the Gold in Doha. And the Malaysian official offered him double the amount of this reward i.e. 450 million rupiahs to lose.
The Olympic champion refused the offer as he lashed out, “What if he (Lee Chong Wei) throws the match? Can I pay you then?” Hidayat revealed in an interview with Trans TV. Taufik went on to win the gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games after defeating Chong Wei (21-16, 21-18) in the semi-final and China’s Lin Dan (21-15, 22-20) in the final.
Chong Wei shocked by Taufik Hidayat’s revelation
Chong Wei was shocked by Taufik’s revelation. The Malaysian shuttler shares that after learning of the incident, he had a chat with his fellow shuttler. Chong Wei is proud of the fact that players value their nation over money as he refused to reveal the name of the perpetrator who made the offer.
“Honestly, I had no idea about this. I was surprised when people started contacting me today. Taufik is a dear friend, so I quickly got in touch with him. He told me what had happened. Thankfully for people like Taufik and me, national pride always comes first. I know who the person is, but it’s been so long since this took place. I believe we should all move on. I don’t want to name or shame anybody,” Chong Wei told Timesport.
The three-time Olympic silver medallist admitted that he had also been approached in the past by bookies to fix matches, but had never gotten involved. “I admit… I was also approached in the past to throw matches. I was young then. However, my country always comes first. That is why I stayed away from it,” added Chong Wei.
Stay Updated!
Anshuman Mahapatra
(1496 Articles Published)