“They have shown us an excellent performance that resulted in victory. The next challenge would be maintaining their winning momentum in future tournaments,” former national shuttler Yuni Kartika told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Yuni, who was a member of the women’s team that won the 1994 Uber trophy, said last year that the Praveen-Melati duo had also done excellently by securing back-to-back victories at the Denmark Open and French Open, but then they won nothing until their All England victory.

Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) secretary-general Achmad Budiharjo praised Praveen and Melati’s victory as the fruit of their ability to stay calm but maintain focus during the final.

“They’ve been very consistent in applying their strategies throughout the match,” he said.

For Praveen, it was the first mixed doubles title in four years after he previously grabbed the title of the All England, one of the most prestigious events on the badminton calendar, in 2016, with then-partner Debby Susanto.

A solid combination between Melati’s front court cover and Praveen’s smash sent the pair to the top podium, destroying the hope of Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai to win their first All England title.

It was a fast and furious match as both pairs displayed skill in pressuring each other with unexpected shuttle placement and good defense. After bagging the opening game with 21-15, it seemed that the world number five pair had the upper hand as they kept control the second game.

But the Thais did not want to give up early as they trailed behind 10-13 in the second game. They turned the situation around by wining six points in a row and to take the lead and force the decider after closing the second game 21-17.

Aware of the threats shown by the opponents, the Indonesians did not lose their grip in the deciding game as they pressured the Thais from the beginning and eventually secured victory 21-8.

“I am so proud to win the title. This has been my dream since I was a little kid. Who doesn’t want to win the All England anyway? If they are asked, every badminton player, I think, definitely wants to win the All England, World Champs and Olympics,” Melati said in a statement.

Praveen, meanwhile, acknowledged that he went through uphill battles to win the same title twice but with different partners.

“They [the Thais] are a strong pair. Every time we met, it was close until the end. We just tried to force them to follow our rhythm,” he said.

Meanwhile, fortune did not befriend the world number one men’s doubles pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon as they bowed to their nemesis Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe in Sunday’s final with 21-18, 10-21 and 21-19.

“We have done our best. Maybe we lacked luck also,” Kevin said after the match.

The match marked the sixth defeat of Kevin and Marcus to Endo and Watanabe. Out of their eight encounters, the Indonesians won the first two, both in 2018.

Achmad Budiharto corroborated Kevin’s statement, saying there was nothing wrong with the Kevin/Marcus pair as they had shown a good performance throughout the match.

‘They have done it beautifully, only this time the opponents get the better of them,” he said.

Flying home on Monday, the Indonesian contingent would not see their families soon as they need to be quarantined for two weeks to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

“It [was decided] on the initiative of the PBSI to put all members [of the Indonesian badminton squad] in quarantine after their return from the All England. We are doing the government a favor by minimizing the chance of spreading the virus,” he said.

Amid concern over the ongoing threat of COVID-19, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided to suspended all the BWF-sanctioned tournaments from March 16 to April 12, which include four major competitions, namely the Swiss Open, the India Open, the Malaysia Open and the Singapore Open.

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