Marcus Fernaldi Gideon is an Indonesian player. He is the world #1 in BWF’s world ranking for men’s doubles with his partner, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. With over 370 career wins, Gideon is currently one of the most successful badminton players in the game!
He first started playing badminton a long time ago, at just 9 years old at the Tangkas Jakarta club. At 13, he decided to practice playing professionally. He won his first ever international title at the 2009 Victorian International in the Men’s Singles category, beating his opponent Joe Wu 17-21, 21-8, 21-15.
Gideon then joined the national training centre in Cipayung and was selected to be a part of the men’s doubles team in 2010. Here, he was paired with his first doubles partner, Agripina Prima Rahmanto. With Rahmanto, they won several tournaments including the 2011 Singapore and 2012 Iran International tournaments and also won Silver at the 2012 Vietnam and Osaka International.
He left the national training center in 2013, and later paired himself with the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist player, Markis Kido. With Kido, Gideon also found success as he won his first ever Superseries title at the 2013 French Open. In 2014 they reached the semifinals of the 2014 All England Open and also won their second title at the Indonesian Masters the same year, defeating fellow Indonesian players Selvanus Geh and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
After his successes with partner Markis Kido, Gideon rejoined the national team. This time, in 2015, he was partnered with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, where the duo are now famously known as ‘The Minions’ because of their height and their fast playing style. Gideon and Sanjaya are one of the most successful badminton duos there is and have won an immense number of championship medals together.
In 2015, they won the gold medal at the men's team event and a silver medal in the men's doubles. They started to find even more success the following year, winning gold at the Indian Australia and China Open. In 2017 they continued their path of dominance, by winning their first All England Open title together, beating Chinese pair Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen. In 2017 alone, they won gold in several Opens including: India, Malaysia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and the Dubai World Superseries Finals.
In 2018, Gideon and Sanjaya soar through even greater heights by winning the Indonesian Masters, Indian Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open and more. The same year, the duo grabbed a podium at the Asian Games and won gold at the Men’s Doubles and Silver with the Men’s Team. It was an incredible moment for them, as they got to win at their home soil winning in front of all of their Indonesian supporters.
Because of the success over the past years, they were awarded the BWF Best Male Players of the Year for two years straight after winning 7 Super Series titles in 2017 and 8 World Tour titles in 2018. They were unstoppable!
They both continued winning in 2019, by collecting gold at several opens, including the Indonesia, Japan, China, Denmark, and French Open. Despite the monumental success they’ve achieved, both players are far from over. In the following years, we will surely see these 2 continue to dominate the badminton scene, and win more championships than we could ever imagine.
