RAHAYU Apriyani

General
DOUBLES PARTNER
She first joined forces with women's doubles partner Greysia Polii in 2017, and the pair have since decided to make their partnership permanent with a view to competing together at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "When everyone was away for competitions, we were the only women's doubles players left at the National Training Centre in Jakarta. So, at the time we teamed up only for training but then coach Eng Hian asked us if we wanted to make the partnership permanent. I thought Greysia was 10 years older, but I was willing to try. It was hard to reach her level of maturity, but I kept my focus to win. She has been very open to my suggestions even though she is a senior. She is my role model." (bolaskor.com, 25 Jul 2020; Indosportdotcom YouTube channel, 17 Mar 2020; Medcom Id YouTube channel, 04 Mar 2020; VIVA.CO.ID YouTube channel, 19 Jan 2020)

SWITCH TO DOUBLES
Born in Lawulo village in Konawe, Indonesia, she moved to Jakarta in 2011 when she was invited to join Pelita Badminton Club to work with coaches Icuk Sugiarto and Toto Sunarto. She had grown up playing singles but in 2012 coach Toto Sunarto encouraged her to switch to doubles competition. "Coach Toto told me that I had a better prospects in the doubles." (Indosportdotcom YouTube channel, 25 Apr 2020; majalahbulutangkis.com, 04 Dec 2017)