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Four Indonesian pairs to face off in All England openers
Praveen Jordan (left), Melati Daeva Oktavianti (Tribunnews/Herudin)Four 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
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Praveen Jordan (left), Melati Daeva Oktavianti (Tribunnews/Herudin)
Four 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 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 earlier this year. The Praveen-Debby duo was Indonesia’s second-best mixed doubles pair 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 have met. 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 to 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 official website, badmintonindonesia.org.
Defending champions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo are set to battle China’s Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan in men’s doubles. On paper, the Indonesian world number ones are seen as the favorites to win the opener as they have dominated the pairs’ previous meetings, holding a 5-1 lead in the head-to-head record.
Marcus and Kevin also opened the year on a positive note by winning the Malaysia Masters and Indonesian Masters in January.
In singles, three Indonesian shuttlers, Jonatan Christie, Tommy Sugiarto and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, will compete in the the men’s category. Meanwhile, Fitriani and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung are set to take the court in the women’s singles competition.
In total, Indonesia will be represented by six mixed doubles pairs, five men’s doubles pairs, three women’s doubles pairs, three men’s singles contenders and two women’s singles competitors at the Birmingham Arena. The tournament will end on Sunday.
