Indonesia has secured three spots in the semifinals of the prestigious All England 2023 badminton tournament, which is taking place at Utilita Arena Birmingham from March 14 to 19.
The men’s doubles pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan showed their experience and resilience by overcoming Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi of China in a thrilling three-game match on Friday. The Indonesian veterans lost the first game 16-21, but bounced back to win the next two games 21-19, 21-19.
Ahsan and Hendra will face another Chinese pair, Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who defeated Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in straight games.
The other men’s doubles semifinal will also feature an Indonesian duo, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are ranked number one in the world. They beat their compatriots Bagas Maulana and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri with ease, 21-18, 21-13.
Fajar and Rian will have a tough challenge against He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong of China, who upset second seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in a close encounter.
If both Indonesian pairs win their semifinals, they will set up an all-Indonesian final on Sunday.
In the mixed doubles category, Rehan Naufal Kusarjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati also made it to the last four after edging out Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya of Japan in a tight three-game battle. The young Indonesians prevailed 21-19, 15-21, 21-19.
Rehan and Lisa will face top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong of China, who cruised past Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy of India. The other mixed doubles semifinal will see Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand take on Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yu Jung of Korea.
Indonesia has no representatives left in the singles events after Jonatan Christie lost to Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia in a major upset. Ng also stunned defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the previous round.
The women’s singles semifinals will see Akane Yamaguchi of Japan face An Se Young of Korea, while Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei will clash with Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
The All England Open is one of the oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments in the world. It offers a prize pool of US$1.25 million and is categorized as a Super 1000 event on the BWF World Tour.