WORLDS 2017 Day 3 – Men’s doubles struggles

The men’s doubles discipline saw the fall of first and fourth seeds on Day 3 of the BWF World Championships with Ahsan/Saputro and Chung/Kim the respective usurpers. Kamura/Sonoda and Gideon/Sukamuljo were also pushed to three, but came through all the same.

By Michael Burke, Badzine Correspondent, live from Glasgow. Photos: Badmintonphoto.

First seed men’s doubles pair Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China were knocked out by Indonesia’s new pairing of Mohammad Ahsan and Rian Agung Saputro (pictured left) in their first match at the BWF World Championships in Glasgow.

Formed after the Rio Olympics, the Indonesian pair have steadily climbed the rankings since their inception and reversed their defeat in this year’s Singapore Open.

“We are very happy and thankful to God to win, and were confident we could beat the number ones,” Ahsan said after the match.

On the pressure of playing the top seeds, Saputro added, “We had nothing to lose and we were playing to win.”

The young Chinese pair were gracious in defeat, speaking well of their opponents.

“They were better than us, more patient, and faster. They controlled the longer rallies,” Liu said.

“It’s been a very good experience for us to be here together this week, but we will go back and practice harder,” added Li.

Olympic bronze medallists Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge (pictured right) were dominant in their first match in the relative home shores of Glasgow.

“We took a few minutes to get going but stepped up after the first half of the first set, just important to stay in shape,” Marcus commented after the pair received a bye in the first round.

Chris added, “If you perform well enough in the first round it should carry through, and we can take a bit of confidence through to tomorrow where we have no pressure as we’re clear underdogs.”

A surprise awaits them as the fifth seeded pair they expected to face, Goh and Tan, Commonwealth Games champions in the same hall would later fall tamely to Koreans Chung Eui Seok and Kim Duk Young.

There was still more headaches for men’s doubles seeds as Germans Lamsfuss and Seidel, who in the end were unable to continue their first game control, pushed Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda (pictured left) to three games.

Kamura said, “It was tough at the beginning but we settled and played well and are very satisfied to get through. We are just focussing on each game, we don’t want to lose each game, and so we just focus on the game rather than winning everything.”

Even third seeds Gideon and Sukamuljo were pushed to three games at the hands of Liao and Lu, although they regrouped to take the rubber decisively.

Whilst Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen progressed easily, their compatriots didn’t fare as well as Liao Min Chun and Cheng Heng Su (pictured right) of Chinese Taipei made the most of their surprise place at the World Championships, coming through a tough three-game match to beat Danes Astrup / Rasmussen.

“We’re so happy to win. We were very nervous, as this is our first of the biggest tournaments, but also very excited. We had no pressure, as we were underdogs, other Chinese Taipei players have higher rankings but are playing the Universiade so we shouldn’t even be here.”

The full results for the day can be found here.