The men’s doubles is always a thrill for the crowds and kept the large crowd in their seats right to the end, with chants for Indonesia and Malaysia as the final place in Sunday’s finals was up for grabs.
And it was the Indonesians that won through, at least in one semi-final, with the 7th seeds Fajar Alfian and Rian Ardianto upsetting the 6th seeds from Malaysia Thien How Hoon and Khim Wah Lim 21-15 21-18.
Rian Ardianto said they were always confident they could win.
“We won this match thanks to our very good preparation from last night, we were ready to play. The match was very tight and we had to stay focused all the time. We try very hard to stay together on court and today went well.”
Ardianto has played the Chinese before, but not in partnership with Alfian, he says the key to winning is to not be rushed.
“We need to be very patient, they are very fast, we need to stay in the points and keep our defence very strong throughout the match.
The earlier semi-final went the way of the young Chinese team that has played so well right through the week, with Huang Kaixiang and Zheng Si Wei putting aside reputations to defeat former Olympic champion Markis Kido and Agripinna Putra (Indonesia) 21-7, 21-16.
Huang spoke like a young player without a care in the world and dismissed any talk of nerves against their more credentialed opponents.
“The game went well for us, we had no nerves even playing against the Olympic champion, we are just here to learn so we were not nervous at all. Again, for the final we are not nervous, once we are in the final we are not worried, we are confident of course.”
Huang spoke of their main asset going into the final, against a combination that they have never faced before.
“Speed is our biggest strength, around the court we are very fast.”
Source NZBadmintonOpen.com
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