Indonesia needs quality young shuttlers to replace its ageing stars, said former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat Thursday after his country's early exit from the Thomas and Uber Cups in Wuhan.
"My team is not strong. It (Indonesian badminton) is going down, but I hope when I retire it will go up," said the 30-year-old former world number two, who will play in his last Olympics at the London Games in July.
Indonesian shuttlers have won at least one gold in each Summer Games since 1992, when the sport became an Olympic event, but the quarter-final exit in Wuhan is the first time they have not reached the semis in the competition.
"It is normal for young people to beat me now," said Hidayat, who won gold in Athens in 2004.
"If I lose to an Indonesian youngster I am happy, but I am not happy to lose to a Japanese youngster," he said after losing to the 22-year-old shuttler Kenichi Tago in the quarter final against Japan.
He added he hoped the coaching at the arena that bears his name in Indonesia would "reap results in five or ten years".
In the women's Uber Cup the Indonesians also went out 3-2 against Japan.