It was like an avalanche. Fitriani and her fellow Indonesian shuttlers were crushed in the women’s singles division of the 2020 Daihatsu Indonesia Masters badminton tournament and knocked out of the competition in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Fitriani, the 2019 Thailand Masters champion, lost 21-6, 21-17 to Yue Han of China in the Wednesday openers. Meanwhile, a young talent, Ruselli Hartawan, who had shown potential in three international tournaments throughout 2019 by reaching the quarterfinals, also had to pack her bags early after losing to Michelle Li of Canada 21-14, 21-15.

Later in the day, world number 18 Gregoria Mariska lost 12-21, 21-15, 24-22 to world number three Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.

The three defeats highlighted the country’s struggle to develop its women’s singles shuttlers, who have been at the bottom of world rankings for years.

In Wednesday’s battles, Ruselli, who started the competition in the qualification round, seemed lost as she lagged insistently behind Li. The first half of the first game was the only time the Indonesian managed to press the Canadian, who later took over the match without significant resistance.

The bad luck continued for Fitriani, who did not display focus in her performance.

Supporters inside the Istora Senayan indoor stadium shouted “Fitri, bangun [wake up]!” as she performed clumsily, making a number of unforced errors.

After the match, Fitriani admitted she often lost focus, which resulted in the many unforced errors that benefited her opponent. Fitriani has not shown the hoped-for progress after sparking hope with her premiere title from Thailand.

“I was too hasty when attacking her, which caused me to make unforced errors. I wasn’t calm enough on the court,” she said.

Women’s singles head coach Rionny Mainaky acknowledged that Fitriani struggled with the pressure, which diminished her abilities during the match.

Rionny, who was appointed to handle the country’s women's singles team last year, said her protégé was too tense, which prevented her from matching Han’s polished performance.

“In the second game, she managed to emerge from the pressure and find her rhythm. I told her when we evaluated her game that she should have played the whole match the way she did in the second game,” he said.

The Indonesian women’s singles squad will compete at the Thailand Masters next week.

Indonesian Badminton Association achievement and development head Susy Susanti said she had pinned her hopes on the women’s singles players, considering that Indonesia planned to send two shuttlers in the category to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July and August.

In badminton, a country can enter a maximum of two players each in the men’s and women’s singles if both are ranked in the world’s top 16 or one place until the roster of 38 players has been filled. Similar regulations also apply to the doubles category.

As of this week, no Indonesian women’s singles players are in the top 16. The highest in the ranking was Gregoria, at number 18, followed by Fitriani, at number 26, and Ruselli, at number 36.

Looking at those rankings, Rionny said, it would be hard to push two shuttlers to make it to the Tokyo Olympics — especially with so few tournaments, at which they would have to reach at least the semifinals to boost their rankings, left before the quadrennial event.

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