After coming home empty-handed from the 2020 Malaysia Masters, the inaugural badminton tournament of the 2020 season, Indonesian shuttlers are hoping to make up for their shortcomings at the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters at Istora Senayan sports stadium this week while also doing their best to punch tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Team Indonesia fell well short of expectations with none of its players advancing to a final in Malaysia. Four Indonesian pairs, namely men’s doubles pairs Hendra Setiawan-Mohammad Ahsan and Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto, women’s doubles pair Greysia Polii-Apriani Rahayu and mixed doubles pair Hafis Faisal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjadja, were all eliminated in the semifinals.

Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) development and achievement head Susy Susanti said the country’s players needed to put in a greater effort in order to ensure they qualify for the Olympics, with the qualification period ending in April.

“We hope that the athletes can be more prepared, especially in maintaining their focus. If we look at their losses at the Malaysia Masters, they lost in the critical points as they struggled with consistency. They are actually on par [with their opponents] in terms of quality,” she said on Monday.

Men’s doubles player Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, who is currently the world number one along with his partner Kevin Sanjaya Sukamlujo, said he wanted to defend his title with Kevin at Istora Senayan to satisfy the fans.

The two were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters last week, falling to compatriots Fajar and Rian in a close match. Despite the loss, Marcus said he was satisfied with his own performance because he lost to the better side.

“I am personally always satisfied with whatever the result is since I try my best. We lost to Fajar and Rian not because we played badly but because they played so well,” he said at the postgame press conference.

As badminton tournaments in Indonesia are known for drawing in raucous crowds, men’s singles player Anthony Sinisuka Ginting said the vocal fans at home could help give him the edge.

“The full support could be motivation for me but it could also hit back like a boomerang. The thing is, based on my experience, I have to be able to control [my emotions],” he said.

“I don’t want to focus on the result; rather, I want to maintain my focus this week and do the best that I can.”

Japanese women’s doubles player Wakana Nagahara also said loud Indonesian crowds were expected, but she would try to not get distracted by them.

“Starting round one, there will be packed crowds, [more so than] other tournaments in other countries. I will try to enjoy the situation,” she said.

The men’s singles tournaments at the Indonesia Masters will not feature world number one Kento Momota of Japan, who had to withdraw from the tournament after an incident in Malaysia. On Monday morning while heading from his hotel to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kento was involved in motor vehicle accident that killed the driver of a van carrying Kento and Badminton World Federation (BWF) officials.

BWF confirmed in a statement that the Japanese player suffered “multiple laceration wounds to the face plus right maxillary sinus and nasal bone fracture”. He was taken to Putrajaya Hospital for treatment and was reportedly in stable condition.

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