Hendri Kurniawan Saputra (born 12 May 1981) is an Indonesian-born Singaporean retired

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player.

Career

Saputra and his brother, Hendra Wijaya, joined the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) in 2000 and both became Singapore citizens after five years. He won a silver medal, along with his brother and also partner, Hendra Wijaya, in the men's doubles, and bronze with

Li Yujia Li Yujia (Simplified Chinese: 李羽佳; born 18 January 1983) is a Chinese-born Singaporean badminton player who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women's and mixed doubles event. Born in Jingzhou, Hubei in 1983, she moved to Singapor ...

in the mixed doubles at the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 2007, Kila haeng echiye tawan oak chiyeng tai 2007), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, was a South ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. Saputra represented

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where he competed in the mixed doubles. Playing with Li Yujia, he defeated Kenya's Victor Odera and Irene Kerimah, Canada's

Mike Beres Mike Beres (born May 13, 1973) is a male badminton player from Canada, who won the bronze medal in the men's doubles competition at the 1999 Pan American Games. He was born in Brantford, Ontario. 2001 (and 2007) he won the Boston Bad ...

and

Valerie Loker Valérie "Val" Loker (born May 1, 1980) is a Canadian badminton player. She won a silver medal, along with her partner Mike Beres in the mixed doubles at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, against the winning U.S. pair Howard ...

, and Australia's

Travis Denney Travis Denney (born 19 February 1976) is a male badminton player from Australia. Denney competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's doubles with partner Ashley Brehaut. They were defeated in the round of 32 by Pramote Teerawiw ...

and

Kate Wilson-Smith Kate Nicole Wilson-Smith (born 9 January 1979) is a female badminton player from Australia. Wilson-Smith competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles with partner Jane Crabtree. They were defeated by Pernille Harde ...

in the preliminary rounds, before losing out the semi-final match to English pair

Nathan Robertson Nathan James Robertson (born 30 May 1977) from Cotgrave in Nottinghamshire is a retired English badminton player who has achieved international success in both the men's events and the mixed doubles event. He was educated at Dayncourt School S ...

and

Gail Emms Gail Elizabeth Emms MBE (born 23 July 1977) is a retired English badminton player who has achieved international success in doubles tournaments. A badminton player since the age of four, Emms was first chosen to represent England in 1995 and r ...

, with a score of 21–19, 14–21, and 17–21. Despite their semi-final loss, Saputra and Li managed to beat the neighbouring Malaysian duo

Koo Kien Keat Koo Kien Keat (; born 18 September 1985) is a Malaysian former professional badminton player. He succeeded in both men's and mixed doubles but is best known for his partnership with Tan Boon Heong with whom, he reached a career high ranking ...

and

Wong Pei Tty Wong Pei Tty (, born 11 November 1981) is a former doubles badminton player from Malaysia. Currently, she works as an assistant coach for Malaysia women's double national team. Career Wong competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in ...

for the bronze medal victory, attaining a three-set score of 21–14, 21–23, and 21–6. Saputra also qualified for the

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, by placing thirteenth and granting an entry as one of the top 15 seeded teams from the Badminton World Federation's ranking list. Playing with Li Yujia for the second time, Saputra lost the preliminary round match to Danish pair and European champions

Thomas Laybourn Thomas Laybourn (born 30 September 1977) is a retired badminton player from Denmark. He is a World Champion, two times European Champion and was ranked as world number 1 in the mixed doubles in January 2011. Career Laybourn won the 2006 Eur ...

and

Kamilla Rytter Juhl Kamilla Rytter Juhl (born 23 November 1983) is a retired Danish badminton player. Juhl is an Olympic silver medalist, World Championship gold medalist and seven times European champion as well. Career Rytter Juhl played as a left-handed doubl ...

, with a score of 12–21 and 14–21. At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

Delhi, India Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, Saputra reunited his partner Hendra Wijaya in the men's doubles. The Singaporean pair defeated Northern Ireland's Matthew Gleave and Tony Stephenson, Isle of Man's Joshua Green and Matthew Wilkinson, and Scotland's Watson Briggs and Paul van Rietvelde in the preliminary rounds, before losing out the semi-final match to Malaysian duo

Tan Boon Heong Tan Boon Heong (, born 18 September 1987) is a former World No.1 Malaysian professional badminton player in the men's doubles event. Career 2004-2006 Tan was previously paired with Hoon Thien How, with whom he won the World Junior Champi ...

and

, with a unanimous score of 11–21 and 8–21. Saputra and Wijaya proceeded to the bronze medal match, where they defeated fellow Singaporean badminton players

Derek Wong Derek Wong (born Wong Zi Liang, traditional Chinese: 黃梓良, 13 January 1989) is a retired Singaporean badminton player. Wong is a two-time Olympian, who took part at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, where he was flag bearer in the latter' ...

and

Chayut Triyachart Chayut Triyachart (born 9 October 1989) is a Thai-born Singaporean former badminton player. At the Commonwealth Games, he won a silver medal in the 2014 men's doubles, and two bronze medals in the 2014 mixed team and 2010 mixed doubles. In J ...

for the medal, attaining a score of 23–21 and 21–12. Shortly after his second Commonwealth Games, Saputra and his brother, Hendra Wijaya, announced their resignations from the Singapore national badminton team, citing difficult targets and no positions in the SBA as sparring partners.

References

External links

*
Profile – Team Singapore

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saputra, Hendri 1981 births Living people People from Semarang Sportspeople from Central Java Indonesian male badminton players Indonesian emigrants to Singapore Singaporean male badminton players Badminton players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Singapore Badminton players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Singapore Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Badminton players at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Singapore Competitors at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton Twin sportspeople Indonesian twins