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Indonesians draw unfavorable openers at All England badminton tournament
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Indonesian mixed doubles pair in badminton Praveen Jordan (left) and Melati Daeva Oktavianti. (PBSI/PBSI)
F
our Indonesian mixed doubles pairs have been dealt unfavorable matchups at the 2019 All England Open badminton tournament, as each pair is set to face their compatriots on Wednesday, when the long hunt for the title begins.
Eighth seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja will play against Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti, while Tontowi Ahmad and Winny Oktavina Kandow will face Alfian Eko Prasetya and Marsheilla Gischa Islami in the BWF World Tour event.
It is Praveen’s and Melati’s second year together as a pair. Previously, Praveen was paired with Debby Susanto, who retired early this year. The Praveen-Debby duo was Indonesia’s second best in mixed doubles behind Tontowi and his former partner Liliyana Natsir.
For Tontowi, 2019 marks his first year playing without Liliyana, who also retired in January. The All England Open will be the third-ever tournament for the Tontowi-Winny pair. They played together in the BWF YONEX German Open last week and the BWF Barcelona Spain Masters last month. Tontowi and Winny made it to quarterfinals in Spain, but lost their opener in Germany.
The All England opener between Praveen-Melati and Hafiz-Gloria will be the third time the two pairs meet. Their head-to-head record is 1-1.
In their last meeting at the BWF Malaysia Masters in January, Praveen and Melati came out on top. Hafiz and Gloria nevertheless rebounded with a finish as the runners-up of the German Open.
“It is an unlikely draw because we are already playing against each other in the opener, but it is what it is. We will play along and do our best.
“I think we’re quite equal in terms of quality. We also know each other pretty well – strengths and weaknesses – because we often train together and play against each other in tournaments,” Praveen said as quoted by the Indonesian Badminton Association’s (PBSI) official website, badmintonindonesia.org.
