The badminton hall in Indonesia has groomed nearly all of the country's most renowned champions. But retaining the glory could prove to be tricky. 

As the nation prepared up for the outcoming Asian Games, the struggle to claim gold medals has become the focus for Indonesia's current young stars.

Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon began training as badminton athletes before turning 11. They have collected 16 gold medals since they were paired in 2015. 

Now they are set to compete in the Asian Games on Saturday. They hope they can continue Indonesia's long-standing legacy of winning gold against other powerhouse countries such as China and Malaysia. 

“Our victory increased our confidence and that's an important motivation for us going into the Asian Games,” Sukamuljo remarked.

Badminton remains one of the most popular sports in Indonesia. Adults and even children can be seen playing it even out in the streets. 

Indonesians are more familiar with badminton than swimming, even though the country is a vast archipelago of over 17,000 islands.

Gatot Dewo Broto, the ministry of sports secretary in the South East Asian country, said, “It looks very difficult to bring the Thomas and Uber cups home to Indonesia, because now the competition among the countries, especially India, China, South Korea, Japan, as well as Denmark, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. It's very tough. That's why Indonesia is not really able anymore to say, 'I'm the winner,' that's why later on, the Asian Games the target from badminton at the moment is only one gold medal.” 

Despite the decades of hype entailing every Indonesian badminton champion dubbed as coming from a country that "produces champions," pessimism still lingers ahead of the games, especially in the face of countries just as bent on getting gold. 

Still, having won the Indonesian Masters, Indian Open and the All-England this year, the golden pair of Sukamuljo and Gideon is hoping to add another shine during this year's Asian Games.