SURPRISE made Indonesian Badminton Team when announcing the line-up list for the match against Taiwan, or the final matchday third match in Group A Thomas Cup 2020, Wednesday (13/10/2021) at 13.30 WIB. Of the two men’s doubles players who were revealed, there was no pair number one and two in the world in the line up.
World number one pair, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya and the world number two doubles, Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan were not relegated. The Indonesian badminton team actually fielded their third men’s doubles, Dawn Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, as the main double in the match against Taiwan.
(Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin, Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalists)
The 2018 Asian Games finalists will be challenged by the men’s doubles gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin. Then the question arises, why were Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya or Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan not selected for the match against Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin?
The results at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are likely to be the reference. At that time, both Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya and Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan were targeted by Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin.
In the group stage, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin beat Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya in straight games, 21-18 and 21-15. More powerful dominance was shown by Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin when they met Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan in the semifinals. At that time, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin won convincingly 21-11 and 21-10.
Then, these two factors make Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto predicted to be able to contribute points for Indonesia when they meet Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin.
First, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto appeared crazy when they played in the Indonesia vs Thailand match two days ago. Facing Natthapat Trinkajee/Tanupat Viriyangkuara, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto won straight games 21-9 and 21-12.
