INDONESIA – Former partners reunite

Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa will reunite on a badminton court next year. The decision was taken after Nova Widianto was told that he could not enter the Asian Games together with Liliyana Natsir. He resigned from PBSI and will reunite with his long time partner Vita Marissa, 7 years after their last match together.

Widianto and Marissa had reached the peak of the world ranking before Marissa suffered a shoulder injury. Their last match together was the 2004 Olympics where the Indonesian duo were beaten by Denmark’s Eriksen/Schjoldager in the quarter-finals. While Marissa was recovering from her shoulder operation, Widianto teamed up with Liliyana Natsir, but the new partnership proved very efficient and Marissa was left on the side while Widianto and Natsir collected titles amongst which 2 world crowns.  Marissa resigned from PBSI a few years later but continued on the world stage with Hendra Gunawan, with a quite a successful outcome – they are currently ranked third in the  world.

Hendra Gunawan is said to be planning to focus on his men’s doubles duo with Alvent Yulianto Chandra.