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At a time when many would be considering hanging up their racquet after winning several badminton “major” in the world, Indonesia’s Markis Kido still has plenty of fire in him at the age of 31.

He still wants to “chase dreams” and does not mind changing partners and start all over again  in his quest to remain at the top. Markis requested a change of partner in the men’s doubles after his partnership with Markus Fernaldi Gideon became rather stagnant despite winning the French Open in 2013 and the Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold.

His new partner is Agripinna Prima Rahmanto Putra, 23 and the pair is playing in only their second international tournament. The first was the Yonex Sunrise Malaysia Masters in Kuching in January where they reached the quarter-finals before losing 21-14, 21-15 to compatriots Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi.

“He personally asked me to change his partner,” says his coach Sigit Pamungkas. “His reason was simple, he still wants to be playing at the top but could not make any headway with (Markus Fernaldi) Gideon.”

And Markis himself was quick to say: “Just wait and see how we go in the Malaysian Open. This is only our second tournament but I am happy with my partnership with Agripinna.”

Markis-Agripinna had to go through the qualifying rounds to make the main draw in the men’s doubles and the Indonesian made it in style. In the first round they made short work of Thailand’s Watchara Buranakuea-Pakkawat Vilailak 21-18, 21-18 in 28 minutes. In the second round the Indonesians romped to an easy 21-8, 21-16 win over Germany’s Rafael Beck-Andreas Heinz in 27 minutes to make the main draw.

“It’s good to be playing in the main draw. This is where the battle starts for us,” said Markis.

Their first round match is against Thailand’s Trawut Potieng-Nipitphone Puangpuapech at 9.30pm on Wednesday.

“I maybe 31 but I am not slowing down. There are many more years of badminton in me and I have set high targets. My partnership with Gideon could not bring me the desired results. We won a couple of titles but the drive was lacking.

“I spoke to my coach about it and here I am with Agripinna. We play for the same club (Jayaraya) in Jakarta. I believe we can go the distance and it has been so good so far. Since we have started playing together only recently we have given ourselves 10 tournaments and see what is in store for us,” added Markis.

Markis’ most successful partnership without doubt was with Hendra Setiawan and won the men’s doubles gold in the Beijing Olympics (2008), Asian Games Guangzhou (2010), Sea Games (2005, Manila), 2007 (Thailand), 2009 (Vietiane, Laos), World Championships (Kuala Lumpur 2007), Asian Championships (Hyderabad, India 2005) and Suwon, South Korea (2009).

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