Marcus Fernaldi Gideon


Marcus Fernaldi Gideon is an Indonesian professional badminton player currently ranked world No. 1 in the men's doubles by the Badminton World Federation. He is from PB Jaya Raya, a badminton club in South Tangerang, Banten and has joined the club since June 2018. He won the 2017 All England Open Super Series Premier with his current partner Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. He and Sukamuljo were recognized as the most outstanding players, and awarded as the BWF Best Male Players of the Year for two years in a row after collected seven Super Series titles in 2017 and eight World Tour titles in 2018.
Gideon and Sukamuljo often referred as "The Minions" because of their height below average badminton players and they are also known for their playing style that is fast and very agile as if bouncing here and there just like Minions in the film Despicable Me, which is often jumping up and down.
defending the title at the 2018 All England Open badminton championship – the oldest tournament in Badminton – in Birmingham, England

Career overview

Gideon started his career in badminton at the Tangkas Jakarta club when he was 9 years old. At the age of 13, he began practicing professionally, and at the same time, he received a scholarship in Singapore. Four months later in Singapore, he returned to Indonesia because of illness, and decided not to continue his education abroad. He was again trained by his father, as a singles and doubles player. Gideon won his first international title in the men's singles discipline at the Victorian International a Future Series event.
Gideon was selected to join the national training centre in Cipayung, in the men's doubles team in 2010. Partnered with Agripina Prima Rahmanto, he won the 2011 Singapore and 2012 Iran International tournaments, and also finished as the runners-up in 2012 Vietnam and Osaka International. Feeling disappointed with the PBSI decision in the sending players to the international tournaments, Gideon decided to leave the national training centre in 2013.
Gideon then returned to the court as an independent player paired with the Beijing 2008 gold medalists, Markis Kido. The duo reaching to the semifinals at the 2013 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold losing to the national player Ronald Alexander and Selvanus Geh in straight games. He captured his first Superseries title at the 2013 French Open with Kido, played from the qualification stage, and beat the seeded pairs in their journey to topped the men's doubles podium. Gideon and Kido, reached in to the semifinals at the 2014 All England Open, and then won their second title at the 2014 Indonesia Masters defeat another Indonesian players Selvanus Geh and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final with the rubber games.
Seeing his achievements with Markis Kido, Gideon invited by PBSI to rejoin the national team. In early 2015, he is paired with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, ended the years by occupying the top 20 BWF World Ranking, grabbed one title at the Chinese Taipei Masters. He also participated at the Southeast Asian Games, clinched the gold medal in the men's team event and a silver medal in the men's doubles event. Gideon and Sukamuljo started their 2016 tour by winning the Malaysia Masters, their performance continues to increase and won the Superseries title in India and Australia, after that the Superseries Premier title in China. At the end of 2016, he and Sukamujo reach to the top 10 world ranking, and qualified to compete at the BWF Superseries Finals held in Dubai. The duo failed to advance to the knocked out stage after stand in the third position in group stage won a match against their compatriot Angga Pratama / Ricky Karanda Suwardi, and lost two matches to Danish and Japanese pairs.
In 2019, Gideon and Sukamuljo were nominated for the Best Male Player award, but failed to retain the award after being defeated by Kento Momota.

Personal life

Gideon is the son of former national badminton player, Kurniahu. He married a general practitioner, Agnes Amelinda Mulyadi on 14 April 2018. His first son Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Jr. was born in January 2019.

Awards

Asian Games

Men's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2018Istora Gelora Bung Karno,
Jakarta, Indonesia		 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Fajar Alfian
Muhammad Rian Ardianto		13–21, 21–18, 24–22 Gold

Asian Championships

Men's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium,
Wuhan, China		 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Hiroyuki Endo
Yuta Watanabe		18–21, 3–21 Silver

Southeast Asian Games

Men's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2015Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Angga Pratama
Ricky Karanda Suwardi		12–21, 22–24 Silver

BWF World Tour (17 titles, 2 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Men's doubles
YearTournamentLevelPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2020All England OpenSuper 1000 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Hiroyuki Endo
Yuta Watanabe		18–21, 21–12, 19–21 Runner-up
2020Indonesia Masters Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–15, 21–16 Champion
2019Fuzhou China Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Takeshi Kamura
Keigo Sonoda		21–17, 21–9 Champion
2019French Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
Chirag Shetty		21–18, 21–16 Champion
2019Denmark Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–14, 21–13 Champion
2019China Open Super 1000 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–18, 17–21, 21–15 Champion
2019Japan Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–18, 23–21 Champion
2019Indonesia Open Super 1000 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–19, 21–16 Champion
2019Indonesia Masters Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mohammad Ahsan
Hendra Setiawan		21–17, 21–11 Champion
2019Malaysia Masters Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Ong Yew Sin
Teo Ee Yi		21–15, 21–16 Champion
2018Hong Kong Open Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Takeshi Kamura
Keigo Sonoda		21–13, 21–12 Champion
2018Fuzhou China Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo He Jiting
Tan Qiang		25–27, 21–17, 21–15 Champion
2018French OpenSuper 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Han Chengkai
Zhou Haodong		21–23, 21–8, 17–21 Runner-up
2018Denmark Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Takeshi Kamura
Keigo Sonoda		21–15, 21–16 Champion
2018Japan Open Super 750 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Li Junhui
Liu Yuchen		21–11, 21–13 Champion
2018Indonesia Open Super 1000 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Takuto Inoue
Yuki Kaneko		21–13, 21–16 Champion
2018All England Open Super 1000 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mathias Boe
Carsten Mogensen		21–18, 21–17 Champion
2018India Open Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Kim Astrup
Anders Skaarup Rasmussen		21–14, 21–16 Champion
2018Indonesia Masters Super 500 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Li Junhui
Liu Yuchen		11–21, 21–10, 21–16 Champion

BWF Superseries (11 titles, 2 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. BWF Superseries has two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the BWF Superseries Finals held at the year end.
Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2017World Superseries Finals Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Liu Cheng
Zhang Nan		21–16, 21–15 Champion
2017Hong Kong Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mads Conrad-Petersen
Mads Pieler Kolding		21–12, 21–18 Champion
2017China Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mathias Boe
Carsten Mogensen		21–19, 21–11 Champion
2017Denmark Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Liu Cheng
Zhang Nan		16–21, 24–22, 19–21 Runner-up
2017Japan Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Takuto Inoue
Yuki Kaneko		21–12, 21–15 Champion
2017Korea Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mathias Boe
Carsten Mogensen		19–21, 21–19, 15–21 Runner-up
2017Malaysia Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Fu Haifeng
Zheng Siwei		21–14, 14–21, 21–12 Champion
2017India Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Angga Pratama
Ricky Karanda Suwardi		21–11, 21–15 Champion
2017All England Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Li Junhui
Liu Yuchen		21–19, 21–14 Champion
2016China Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Mathias Boe
Carsten Mogensen		21–18, 22–20 Champion
2016Australian Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Angga Pratama
Ricky Karanda Suwardi		21–14, 21–15 Champion
2016India Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Angga Pratama
Ricky Karanda Suwardi		21–17, 21–13 Champion
2013French Open Markis Kido Koo Kien Keat
Tan Boon Heong		21–16, 21–18 Champion

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

The BWF Grand Prix has two level such as Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation since 2007.
Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2016Malaysia Masters Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Koo Kien Keat
Tan Boon Heong		18–21, 21–13, 21–18 Champion
2015Chinese Taipei Masters Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Hoon Thien How
Lim Khim Wah		21–12, 21–8 Champion
2015Chinese Taipei Open Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo Fu Haifeng
Zhang Nan		13–21, 8–21 Runner-up
2014Indonesia Masters Markis Kido Selvanus Geh
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo		21–17, 20–22, 21–14 Champion

BWF International Challenge/Series (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2009Victorian International Joe Wu17–21, 21–8, 21–15 Champion

Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2012Osaka International Agripina Prima Rahmanto Putra Takeshi Kamura
Keigo Sonoda		17–21, 23–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2012Vietnam International Agripina Prima Rahmanto Putra Ricky Karanda Suwardi
Muhammad Ulinnuha		12–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2012Iran Fajr International Agripina Prima Rahmanto Putra Tarun Kona
Arun Vishnu		21–18, 21–18 Champion
2011Singapore International Agripina Prima Rahmanto Putra Lukhi Apri Nugroho
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo		21–17, 21–9 Champion

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2014Turkey International Gabriela Stoeva Jones Ralfy Jansen
Cisita Joity Jansen		21–17, 17–21, 12–21 Runner-up

Performance timeline

National team

Men's doubles results against World Tour Level 2–4 finalist, World Tour Finals semifinalists, World Superseries finalists, World Superseries Finals semifinalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists paired with:
;Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
;Markis Kido