How Indonesia became the home of badminton

W HEN THE Chinese players whacked the shuttlecock out of bounds on August 2nd, giving Indonesia its only gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the winning team of Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu collapsed onto the floor and sobbed with relief. Some 3,500 miles away, the Indonesian archipelago erupted with joy. Fans bursting with pride celebrated online, filling each others’ phones with tweets and memes. The president declared their triumph in the women’s doubles game an early “birthday gift” to the nation (its independence day is on August 17th). The badminton champs have been promised, among other things, prize money of 5bn rupiah ($347,000) each, houses, meatball kiosks and five cows.

In England, where the modern version of the sport originated, badminton is a lawn game, played by people drunk on Pimm’s and sunshine. In Asia it is a serious business. At the Badminton World Championships in 2019, Asian countries won 19 of 20 medals. In recent decades China has emerged as a heavyweight. But Indonesia is the sport’s juggernaut. It has won more titles at the Thomas Cup, the most prestigious tournament, than any other country. Badminton is the only sport in which it has ever won gold at the Olympics—and it has done so at all but one since the sport was introduced in 1992. Indonesia is the “home of badminton”, Kompas...