Indonesia badminton pair spied on China duo before beating them to gold at Tokyo Olympics

Excerpts of the book were posted on X on Friday by Ainur Rohman, of sports website fantasista.id.

In her account, Polii describes how the Indonesians found themselves watching live images of their opponents practising on the eve of the gold medal clash because there were cameras at the training venue “capturing almost all sides of the court they were using”.

Live footage captured by the cameras was being screened on monitors that were visible to Polii and her partner.

“This stroke of luck and coincidence allowed the Indonesian team to devise the perfect strategy and ultimately shatter the Chinese women’s doubles team’s morale in the final,” Rohman wrote in the X post.

The book also revealed that the Chinese team changed their court during their training, because they were initially right next to the one being used by the Indonesians.

“They might have moved because they were worried that the Indonesian team would easily peek at their practice if they stayed,” the book stated, adding that the decision to move was “a big mistake”.

After they moved to the court with the cameras, “without much effort of peeking from the gap in the curtain”, the Indonesian team could “clearly see all the practice activities of Chen/Jia through that monitor screen”.

The book continued: “They [Polii and Rahayu] stood with their eyes closely watching the monitor, as if not wanting to miss a single scene.”

The Indonesian team learned China’s main strategy for the final was to target Polii’s backhand, which was considered her weakness.

Contents of the biography spread on Chinese social media on Friday, sparking outrage.

“The incident with Zhijie has already made me clench my teeth in anger. Now that this matter has come to light, I am completely at odds with Indonesia from this point forward,” one person commented, referring to the death of Chinese teenage badminton player Zhang Zhijie.

Officials were accused of acting too slowly to treat Zhang after he collapsed during a match in Indonesia, which also sparked outrage across Chinese social media.

“I wonder what the intention is behind releasing this biography right before the Paris Olympics,” another commenter said. “Who are they trying to get at?”

As of Saturday afternoon, topics with the hashtag “Indonesian Team Spies On Fan & Chen Training” and “Fan & Chen’s Tokyo Olympics Pre-Match Targeted Training Leaked” had nearly a million views on social media platform Weibo.

Some said that despite being spied on, the Chinese pair, making their Olympic debut, had been too nervous in the final, while veteran Polii was competing at her third Games.

“Tactically being targeted can be adjusted during the match,” one person commented. “I think the most important thing was that Fan and Chen were too nervous in the final, and many of their movements became distorted.”

Others stressed the importance of looking forward. “It’s too late to say anything now, the focus should be on doing well at the coming Olympics.”

Jia and Chen will represent China again in Paris, and head into the Olympics ranked the top women’s doubles pair by the Badminton World Federation.

Polii announced her retirement in June 2022, but Rahayu will compete this time around alongside Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.