An excerpt from the book was published on Friday by Aynur Roman of the sports website fantasista.id.
Polii wrote how the Indonesians were able to watch their opponents practice live on the night before the gold medal match because cameras were set up in the training venue “filming almost every aspect of the court they were using.”
The live footage captured by the camera was projected onto a monitor where Polly and her partner could see it.
“Thanks to this luck and coincidence, the Indonesian team was able to devise a perfect strategy and ultimately crush the morale of the Chinese women’s doubles team in the final,” Roman wrote in a post on X.
The book also reveals that the Chinese team changed courts during training because initially they were right next to the court used by the Indonesian team.
“They may have moved because they were worried that if they stayed, the Indonesian team would have an easy time spying on their training,” Hon said, adding that the decision to move was a “big mistake”.
After moving onto the court with their cameras, the Indonesian team was able to clearly see all of Chen/Jia’s training activities through the monitor screens, “without the trouble of peeking through gaps in the curtains.”
The book continues: “They [Polii and Rahayu] They stood there staring at the monitor as if they didn’t want to miss a single scene.”
The Indonesian team learned that China’s main strategy in the final was to target Polii’s backhand, which was considered her weak spot.
Contents of the biography went viral on Chinese social media on Friday, sparking outrage.
“The Zhijie incident has already made me grit my teeth in anger. Now that this has come to light, I will be in complete conflict with Indonesia from now on,” one person said, referring to the death of Chinese teenage badminton player Zhang Zhijie.
After Zhang collapsed during a match in Indonesia, authorities were accused of waiting too long to treat him, sparking outrage on Chinese social media.
“What is the point of publishing this biography right before the Paris Olympics,” said another commenter. “Who are they trying to appeal to?”
As of Saturday afternoon, topics with hashtags such as “Indonesian team spies on Fan and Chen training” and “Fan and Chen’s target training ahead of Tokyo Olympics games leaked” had been viewed nearly 1 million times on the social media platform Weibo.
Some critics said the Chinese pair, making their Olympic debut, were too nervous in the final despite being closely watched, while the veteran Poly was competing in her third Olympic Games.
“Tactical targets can be adjusted during the match,” one person said. “I think the most important thing is that Fan and Chen were too nervous in the final, which led to their movements being distorted.”
Others stressed the importance of staying positive: “It’s too late to say anything now. We should focus on doing well in the upcoming Olympics.”
Jia and Chen will again represent China in Paris and go into the Olympics ranked as the top women’s doubles pair by the Badminton World Federation.
Polii announced his retirement in June 2022, but this time Rahayu will compete alongside Siti Fadia Silva Ramadanti.
