Gideon: A Relentless Star Bids Goodbye
Has there been a more underappreciated doubles great than Marcus Fernaldi Gideon?
· DEV SUKUMAR
Thanks largely to the spectacular skills of his partner Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Gideon’s own contribution to the pair’s success was relatively in the shade. It is on his retirement, which was announced earlier this month, that fans can look back in wonder at the full extent of his special gifts.
Known as the Minions for their energy and their below-average height among elite badminton players, Gideon and Sukamuljo lorded over the circuit during their prime years from 2016 to 2019. Sukamuljo’s lightning-quick reflexes and poaching at the net, and Gideon’s workhorse energy around the court, somehow seemed to make the combination greater than the sum of its parts. For a player primarily at the back, Gideon’s hitting lacked the firepower of famed big-hitters like Fu Haifeng or Tan Boon Heong, but he compensated with relentlessness and consistency. In quickness and defence, the Minions were almost without peer.
While his name will be forever hyphenated along with Sukamuljo’s, Gideon can point out his Superseries win with a different partner – Markis Kido – with whom he won the French Open in 2013.