Indonesian men’s doubles pair Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Daniel Marthin successfully qualified for the semifinals of the Japan Open badminton tournament. In the match held at the Yokohama Yanagawa Arena, Friday (23/8) afternoon, they defeated Chinese representatives Chen Bo Yang/Liu 21-14, 21-14.
Today, Indonesia’s second representative who is also the fourth seed Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto will meet the eighth seed from Malaysia, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin.
On paper, Fajar/Rian have a higher chance of continuing their steps to the semifinals, considering that out of 9 meetings, 8 of them were wins for the Indonesian representatives.
However, the defending All England Open champions admitted that they did not want to relax their focus and were determined to improve their performance even more today.
“This is certainly not easy. Moreover, lately the opponent’s performance has also been good and the trend is rising,” said Rian.
Another Indonesian men’s doubles representative, Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana also secured their place in the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 750 tournament. This afternoon, Leo/Bagas, who are also a new pair, will face the host pair, Kenya Mitsuhashi/Hiroki Okamura.
“Facing them, we will maintain our condition. We will try to give our best performance,” Leo said, as stated on the official PBSI website. (M-3)
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