Rafael Candra Wijaya (; born 16 September 1975) is a retired

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player.

Career

Wijaya started his career in badminton at the age of five, motivated by his brother Indra Wijaya and later joined a club in Cirebon. His father, Hendra Wijaya, then took him to a club Pelita Jakarta when he was fourteen. In 1991, he was selected to join the national team. In 1998, he moved to Jaya Raya Jakarta. Wijaya is a doubles specialist. He has been rated among the best men's doubles players in the world for over a decade. Noted for his ability in all phases of the doubles game, he has reached the final of the

BWF World Championships The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious i ...

three times with countryman

Sigit Budiarto Sigit Budiarto (born 24 November 1975) is a male badminton player from Indonesia noted for his reflexes and deft handling of the racket. A men's doubles specialist, he won numerous international titles between 1995 and 2005, most of them in p ...

. They won the 1997 edition in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and finished second in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

. With Tony Gunawan he captured the men's doubles gold medal at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

in Sydney. Though Budiarto has been his most frequent partner, Wijaya has won top tier men's doubles events (and a mixed doubles event or two) with a variety of players, recently renewing an earlier partnership with Gunawan. Wijaya was a member of the world champion

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships h ...

(men's international) teams of

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

. He was named IBF Player of the Year and received the Eddie Choong awards in 2000. In 2007 he joined the Japanese club owned by Tonami.

Personal life

Wijaya was born in a badminton family. His father Hendra Wijaya introduced him to badminton at the young age. His siblings,

Indra Wijaya Indra Wijaya (; born 16 March 1974) is a former badminton player who initially represented Indonesia and subsequently Singapore. After his retirement, he started a new career as a coach. Wijaya was born in a badminton family, his sibling Candr ...

, Rendra Wijaya and Sandrawati Wijaya also a former national badminton players. He married Maria Caroline Indriani on 20 January 2001 at St. Thomas Rasul Church in Cengkareng. They have two children Gabriel Christopher Wintan Wijaya and Christina Joshephine Wintania Wijaya. He was a founder of Candra Wijaya International Badminton Centre, and Candra Wijaya badminton club.

Participation at Indonesian Team

* 6 times at

Sudirman Cup The Sudirman Cup is an international badminton mixed team competition contested by member countries of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the 1989 Sudir ...

(1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007) * 6 times at

(1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Men's doubles''

World Championships

''Men's doubles''

World Cup

''Men's doubles''

Asian Championships

''Men's doubles''

Asian Cup

''Men's doubles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

World Junior Championships

''Mixed doubles''

BWF Superseries (1 title, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

(BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year. ''Men's doubles'' : BWF Superseries Finals tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, S ...

tournament

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the

BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling Professional wrestling i ...

. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006. ''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

IBF International

''Men's doubles''

Performance timeline

National team

* ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Senior level''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wijaya, Candra 1975 births Living people People from Cirebon Sportspeople from West Java Indonesian sportspeople of Chinese descent Indonesian male badminton players Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Indonesia Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Indonesia Badminton players at the 1998 Asian Games Badminton players at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Competitors at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton World No. 1 badminton players