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After badminton, Liliyana Natsir embraces new role as civil servant
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Indonesian shuttler Liliyana Natsir gets emotional as she bids farewell to badminton on the sidelines of 2019 Daihatsu Indonesia Masters tournament in Jakarta on Jan. 27.
(Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
A new chapter in Liliyana “Butet” Natsir’s life is about open after she bade farewell to badminton on Sunday.
The former world number one in mixed doubles, Liliyana bade farewell to the sport after 24 years – 17 years spent as a national athlete.
In front of thousands of badminton fans during Sunday’s final of the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters tournament at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Liliyana held her racket for the last time as a professional shuttler. Despite finishing as the runner-up with partner Tontowi Ahmad in the tournament, Liliyana received endless love in and outside the stadium.
Liliyana’s retirement is a tremendous loss for Indonesian badminton. Nevertheless, she has made her country proud – including by winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Tontowi, and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Nova Widianto, to go with three World Championship titles with Tontowi and Nova and three All England titles with Tontowi.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo made time to hold a proper send-off for the badminton legend, inviting Liliyana to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday. The two spoke for about 30 minutes before meeting with the press, Antara reported.
“Liliyana’s retirement is a great loss for Indonesia. In fact, it is also a loss for the world,” said Jokowi, highlighting her career achievements. Jokowi expressed hope Liliyana’s juniors could follow in her footsteps.
Post-retirement, Liliyana was ready to take up a new role as a civil servant, said the president.
“[Her duty as a civil servant] will be to make trips to regions [around the country] […] to motivate people regarding the things that need to be done to achieve,” he added.
In response, Liliyana said she was ready for the new role.
“I’m ready to motivate the young generation to achieve and to keep our tradition of winning gold medals at the Olympics going,” she added.
Liliyana shared her time with Jokowi on her Instagram account, @natsirliliyana. In her post, Liliyana said: “Today I had the honor to meet with President Jokowi. I made the best of it by sharing some of my thoughts with him. I hope he approves. Thank you Pak Jokowi, Pak Imam Nahrawi and Pak Praktikno for your time, the opportunity and your support for Indonesian badminton.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Liliyana Natsir (@natsirliliyana) on
After the meeting, Youth and Sports Ministry Imam Nahrawi, who accompanied Liliyana to the palace, said Liliyana had done a great job on the civil servant enrollment test.
“It was probably beyond many people’s expectations because [Liliyana] was often on the court. But when she participated in the enrollment test, she did really well,” said Imam.
As a civil servant, Liliyana would work in a division for training athletes under the sports ministry, he added.
Liliyana responded by saying that she would talk more with the minister about the details of her future work.
In the meantime, when asked whether she would consider a coaching job, Liliyana said she had not yet thought about it.
“Being a coach means you have to be fully committed to badminton. I just finished my journey, so I cannot really say much,” she said.
