(Blibli Indonesia Open) Eyeing on Title Chance from Three Events

Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (Indonesia) solidarity. (Photo: PBSI)
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (Indonesia) solidarity. (Photo: PBSI)
Indonesia Open ‐ Created by Imansyah Noorwihadi

Jakarta | Men’s Doubles, Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles events are still the host’s best hope to grab the title for this year’s Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000 that will be held in Istora Senayan from 16 to 21 July 2019.

Susy Susanti, the head of player & performance development of PP PBSI, claims that the World’s No. 1 Men’s Doubles pair, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, is still Indonesia’s best hope for title in this tournament. In addition to that, she also claims that there is a growing positive trend from Jonatan Christie, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti and Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja that leads Susy to believe that these players may grab something for this year’s tournament.

“if we were to speak about target, the biggest chance is still on Men’s Doubles event. However, if we are looking at the progress, we are also putting hopes on the Men’s Singles event, although there are still consistency concerns surrounding the performance,” as said by Susy Susanti.

Jonatan & Anthony are already showing a positive performance trend lately. This year, Jonatan has collected two titles from New Zealand Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300 and Australian Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300. Likewise, Anthony is the runner up for Singapore Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 500 and Australian Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300.

In addition to the men’s singles event chance, the two Indonesian Mixed Doubles pairs are also expected to perform better on this year’s tournament. Praveen/Melati and Hafiz/Gloria, the students of the head coach Richard Mainaky, are Indonesia’s hopes on Mixed Doubles event. Praveen/Melati is the runner up of India Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 500, New Zealand Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300 and Australian Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300. On the other hand, Hafiz/Gloria grabbed a title during the Thailand Open 2018 BWF World Tour Super 500 and reached the second place during the German Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 300.

“There are chances; we still have chances from the Mixed Doubles event. Praveen/Melati are yet to grab a title, but hopefully by playing as a host, they can play their heart out with more confidence and more willpower. I know Praveen/Melati has strengths, thus they shall use these strengths to win and stop bothering on their own weakness that may doubt their strength,” She stated.

“I hope all Mixed Doubles pairs can be motivated, I know they can. To Hafiz/Gloria, both of you should add more power,” She added.

On contrary, without setting the Women’s Doubles & Women’s Singles aside, Susy is still placing her hope and believe on players on these two events to potentially shock the public and defeat higher rank players.

During Australian Open, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu managed to defeat Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara as a revenge for their loss during Sudirman Cup. It’s true that their power and defense must be further improved. As for Women’s Singles events, we admit that it is our weakness. However, we must keep improving and find ways to increase the performance on this event,” as stated by Susy.