KOMPAS.com – Japanese men’s doubles Takuro Hoki / Yugo Kobayashi spoke about a decline in performance after being ranked number one in the world.
Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi is currently competing at Indonesia Masters 2023 which took place at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, since Tuesday (24/1/2023).
As reported by the official BWF website, Hoki/Kobayashi was ranked first in the world for 14 weeks from 21 September to 20 December 2022.
However, Hoki/Kobayashi’s performance declined. Denmark Open 2022 will be their first BWF World Tour tournament after winning the men’s doubles.
Also read: Indonesia Masters 2023: Fajar/Rian and Jeremiah’s Situation of Pain
Hoki/Kobayashi were immediately eliminated in the first round after losing in a straight game or two straight games with a score of 15-21, 14-21 from Jeppe Bay/Lasse Molhede (Denmark).
After that, Hoki/Kobayashi stopped in the quarter-finals of the 2022 French Open and 2022 Hylo Open as well as the group phase of the 2022 BWF World Tour Finals.
When met after the match in the first half or the top 32 Indonesia Masters 2023Hoki/Kobayashi revealed the reasons for their decline in performance.
“There is no special pressure even though we are number one in the world,” said Hoki in answer to Kompas.com’s question at Istora Senayan, Wednesday (25/1/2023).
Also read: Indonesia Masters 2023 Schedule Today: Waiting for the Jojo-Ginting Action
“At that time there was a change in feelings, we couldn’t enjoy (the match), we couldn’t enjoy playing badminton,” Hoki said.
“Physical and mental conditions are changing,” Hoki continued.
The same thing happened to Hoki/Kobayashi when playing at the 2023 Malaysia Open and 2023 India Open.
In addition, Hoki/Kobayashi also considered that their game had been studied so that other men’s doubles could beat them.
“Yesterday just lacked motivation, maybe the conditions are the same as the others. Other men’s doubles pairs have studied our game,” said Hoki.
“We feel we have learned a lot, that’s what caused our defeat in the previous two tournaments,” said Takuro Hoki.
Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi managed to beat Su Ching Heng/Ye Wong Wei (Taiwan) with a twin score of 21-16, 21-16.
Furthermore, they will face French representatives, Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar, in the second or last 16 round of the 2023 Indonesia Masters.
Get updates featured news and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, how to click the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your cellphone.
