Indonesian shuttlers secured six spots in the BWF World Tour, which only invited top eight players to Guangzhou to fight for a total of US$1.5 million in prize money.

Badminton legend Susy, who heads the sports development division of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), said men’s doubles pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo failed to reach the semifinals to defend their title after Marcus suffered a neck injury on Wednesday.

The top-seed pair decided to withdraw from a third group match on Friday. Before withdrawing, Marcus and Kevin collected one win and one loss.

“We didn’t do well; the players under-performed. Our favorites, Marcus and Kevin, were troubled by the injury. Nevertheless, injuries do happen in any tournament,” 1992 Olympic gold medalist Susy said as quoted by badmintonindonesia.org on Sunday.

Five other spots were filled by veterans Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, also in the men’s doubles category, Tommy Sugiarto and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in men’s singles, Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in women’s doubles as well as Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in mixed doubles.

They were all defeated in the group stage.

Ahsan and Hendra, Tommy, as well as Hafiz and Gloria, only managed to produce one win, respectively. Meanwhile, Anthony, as well as Greysia and Apriyani, won none of their matches. (nkn)