INDONESIA OPEN 2016 Day 2 – 1st round surprises

The Indonesia Open has only just started its main round but already many surprises have happened on the court.

By Naomi Indartiningrum, Badzine Correspondent live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

It was Chris and Gabby Adcock who became the first seeds to find they could go home early.  They were defeated by home players Alfian Eko Prasetya / Annisa Saufika (pictured) after struggling in rubber game.

Prasetya/Saufika started the match with so much confidence even though they were not seeded in this tournament.  The Adcocks were able to catch up in the middle of the game but were not able to convert the deuce into a winning point and the Indonesians won 24-22

Not wanting to lose, the Brits started to attack more in the second game and pushed it to a deciding game, where it was the world #54 who started to attack with fast drives.  The British duo were not able to attack because there Prasetya/Saufika refused to lift the shuttle.  Unable to get out from under the pressure, the Adcocks finally lost the decider 16-21.

“In the first game, we got court with so much wind so we tried to attack,” said Saufika after the win.  “In the second game, we lost our focus and gave away many points because of that.  Meanwhile in the third game, we came back like the first game and tried not to make many mistakes.  Our rivals are more experts than we are so we just played all out with no pressure.

“We tried not to lift to them because our opponent is left-handed and his smash is so powerful.  If I lifted it, he would smash in and we’d be through,” she added.

On the other hand this match was very disappointing for the British pair as they had targeted a higher result for this tournament: “It’s a very bad performance today.  We’re not too sure about what happened.  We know them from many tournaments before.  They played their game and we played very bad today,” said Chris Adcock (pictured right with Gabby Adcock).

“I think the wind is not the problem.  It’s the same condition for everybody so the Indonesian pair were very good to play in this hall,” Gabby added.

In Thursday’s match, Prasetya/Saufika will face the Dutch pair Arends/Piek.

Walkover again and again

Another surprise came from the world #1 men’s single player, Chen Long.  It was announced that the Chinese star had to withdraw from the tournament because of a lower back injury.  The same thing happened with the Korean men’s doubles aces, Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang.  They also withdrew from the tournament because Kim Sa Rang has a shoulder injury and according to his partner, Kim Gi Jung, he is not in good condition this week.

“We have already joined many tournaments before to get the points for the Olympics.  We are not as strong and some of us, including Kim Sa Rang, have come down with a fever.  Because our focus is on the Olympics, we will prepare hard for that event,” said Kim Gi Jung.

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