Fajarasia.co – Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto men’s doubles are the remaining representatives of the Indonesian badminton team until the semifinals at the Thailand Open 2022.
Competing at Impact Arena Bangkok, the fifth seeded pair defeated Japanese men’s doubles Keiichiro Matsui/Yoshinori Takeuchi with a rubber game 21-14, 19-21, 21-4 which was recorded for 49 minutes.
“Alhamdulillah, the match went smoothly and went well. This Japanese pair is quite tenacious and difficult to turn off,” Fajar said in a written statement from PP PBSI, Saturday (21/5/2022).
Fajar said they had started the game well in the first game. Even though the opponent had tried to block the attack that was launched, Fajar/Rian could withstand the pressure of the 31st-ranked pair.
Comfortable with the previous strategy, Fajar/Rian did not change the strategy in the second game. But unfortunately Matsui / Takeuchi already understood Fajar / Rian’s pattern of play and stole the advantage to equalize to thwart the victory in two straight games for Indonesia.
“The first game we were in a position that was more assisted by the wind, so we supported an attacking pattern of play. The pace was also fast. In the second game, the conditions were reversed. But in the third game we didn’t want to lose, we kept pushing. Moreover, at the start of the third game we also won the wind. So must get a lot of points before moving the field in the third game interval,” said Fajar.
According to Rian, the attacking pattern they used was very helpful to deal with Japanese pairs who are known to be tough and can break the rhythm quickly. Therefore Fajar/Rian are determined to continue to attack as well as be prepared to counterattack from Matsui/Takeuchi.
“In addition to the field position factor, the key to our victory earlier was to play more attacking. We also have to be more prepared in front of the net,” Rian added.
Unfortunately, Fajar/Rian’s success could not be followed by Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, who stopped in the quarter-finals after being defeated by Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmusen from Denmark.
In two straight games, the pair nicknamed The Daddies had to admit the superiority of their opponent with a score of 13-21, 15-21.
Two other Indonesian representatives, namely Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (men’s singles) and Akbar Bintang Cahyono/Marsheulla Gischa Islami (mixed doubles) also had to step down in the quarter-finals.****
