The gold medals won by the men’s’ doubles pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and the mixed doubles pair of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti in the recently finished 2019 French Open are solid evidence that badminton at the national level is on the right track, says a top official.

However, the official expected all athletes to stay solid and fit, maintaining rigorous self-discipline in their training, and at the same time avoiding injuries.

“From that perspective, the road is indeed still long. The athletes should never tolerate any disruption and keep moving with their scheduled training to hone their skills,” Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI) secretary-general Achmad Budiharto told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The Kevin/Marcus pair, affectionately known as the "Minions", and the Praveen/Melati pair have extended their winning momentum as both pairs also won the previous Denmark Open.

The Minions won their gold by beating their Indian opponents Satwisairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in straight games 21-18 and 21-16 in the final round held at the Pierre de Cubertain stadium in Paris.

“Totally grateful, but it’s too early to do a victory lap as we are still facing several more tournaments ahead of us,” Marcus said as quoted by Antara news service.

Kevin acknowledged that they had faced tough opponents, who displayed the same agility as them during the matches.

“They are both very fast and strong. Therefore, we needed to double them in order to secure the title,” he said.

This was the Minions’ seventh medal this year.

Previously the mixed doubles of Praveen and Melati had defeated the pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yoqiong of China by following a rigorous path after losing the first game 18-21. The Praveen and Melati pair had to go the extra mile as their Chinese opponents would not let them win easily.

The second game was theirs with a score of 21-16 and the third ended in a dramatic fashion as the Indonesian pair closed the match with a tight result of 22-20.

“The key points are never losing trust and maintaining good communication with your partner. Keep supporting each other and never let your opponent win the match,” Melati said.

“This time victory has become the perfect energy booster for us to face future tournaments,” she added.

Achmad praised both pairs’ achievements, expecting them to be able to extend their winning momentum by continually perfecting their skills through a strict training regime and at the same time avoiding any physical injuries.

“All athletes need to have a good relationship with their trainers so they can discuss anything related to their performance as athletes,” he said.

Walking a different emotional path was men’s singles shuttler Jonatan Christie, who had to bow down to his archrival Chen Long of China in the final round with a score of 19-21 and 12-21. This was their eighth encounter and none has been won by Jonatan.

“There was a light at the end of the tunnel actually. I think that I still have a window to win, but I admit I become less patient only when I lead the points,” he admitted.

Achmad said actually Chen Long and Jonatan shared the same playing characteristics. Both of them, he went on, often rely on long rallies, which require stamina and great instinct to wait for the right opportunity to come.

“Jonatan must admit that Chen Long has better stamina and the guts to launch hits at Jonatan’s blank spots almost every time,” he said.

Thus, Achmad went on, Jonatan should be able to realize his weakness and study really hard to become more adaptive and outperform Chen Long’s stamina.

“This is not an easy job. An athlete should develop great self-discipline and better intuition to be able to detect the opponent’s moves. These skills will develop over time,” he said.

Despite his latest defeat, Jonatan said that overall, his performance this year had been showing progress. He said last year he ended his Paris Open journey in the quarterfinals and right now he had the chance of reaching the final round by defeating elite shuttler Victor Axelsen of Denmark in the semis with scores of 7-21, 22-20 and 21-19.

His first-game defeat had propelled him to win the second game even though it took a struggle. In the final game, Jonatan managed to secure victory after falling behind seven points when the Dane led 19-12. Jonatan said he had been patiently chasing points and sealed the third game with a score of 21-19 in his favor.

“Overall, I am very grateful for my achievement today,” he said.

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