Juggling two loves nota grey area for Greysia

Smashing couple: Greysia with her entrepreneur husband Felix at their wedding.

PETALING JAYA: Indonesia’s women’s doubles star Greysia Polii is doing just fine juggling between badminton and married life.

The 33-year-old got married to Felix Claudius Djimin last December but it has not stopped her from doing well in the women’s doubles with her 23-year-old partner Apriyani Rahayu.

In fact, just a month into her marriage, she went on to win the Thailand Open 1 in Bangkok – the first tournament that was held this year under strict protocols due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

And she is now gearing up for her third Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo, with a determination to achieve her best.

Greysia played with different partners in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio editions but paired with Apriyani in her third outing, she may just land her first Olympics medal based on their recent form.

“I got married (on Dec 23, 2020) despite it being the Olympics season. It’s definitely a different season but it all depends on how I live in the moment, right,” said Greysia – who shared the photo of her wedding with entrepreneur Felix, which was held in Jakarta with her close family members in attendance – to Starsport yesterday.

“It has not slowed down my focus in badminton, at least it will not until my target is met,” said Greysia, who has a huge fan base on social media.

Greysia is currently ranked sixth in the world with Apriyani and they are seen as one of the pairs with strong potential to break the stranglehold of top pairs from Japan, China and South Korea.

Indonesian women’s doubles have never won a single medal in the Olympics since the sport was introduced in 1992 and Greysia hopes to end the long wait to give the women shuttlers in her country a huge boost.

“Our training is great although we have to make all the adjustments because of Covid-19 but we have adapted well,” said Greysia, the 2014 Asian Games gold medallist with former partner Nitya Krishinda.

“Apriyani and I are clear about our goals - we want nothing else but a good result at the Olympics.”