Enjoying The Match Becomes Bagas/Fikri's Strategy To Get Rid Of Bebuyutan's Enemy At The 2023 Badminton World Championships

Indonesian men's doubles, Bagas Maulana/Mohammad Shohibul Fikri. (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - Indonesian men's doubles Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri stepped into the last 16 of the 2023 Badminton World Championships. They successfully defeated their arch-enemy, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, Friday, August 25 in the morning WIB.

Bagas/Fikri beat the Japanese men's doubles with two straight games 22-20, 21-18. This ended their poor record after previously losing three consecutive matches.

"It feels good to be able to penetrate and win against arch-enemy. Earlier, our strategy was just to enjoy the match in the middle of the field and not think about winning or losing," said Bagas.

This victory not only extended the steps for the Indonesian duo to advance to the quarter-finals. This is also a matter of pride because it can beat a partner who is famously difficult to beat.

"I feel happy and proud to win against Hockey/Kobayashi. This success shows we can win the game. This victory also means a lot to prove that we can," Fikri added, as quoted by Antara.

The All England 2022 champion pair said one of their winning factors was watching the image recordings of the matches played by Hockey/Kobayashi.

The evaluation of the previous three meetings also became the material for finalizing the strategy used by Bagas/Fikri.

But overall, there is no striking strategic difference compared to the previous performances. It's just that they try to be more solid and patient against Hockey/Kobayashi.

"Because we have previously met, and continued to lose in the last three meetings, we are diligent in seeing the opponent's video recordings. In addition, we also have to be more confident and perform well," said Bagas.

This patience can be seen in the first game, when they trailed 18-20 from the Japanese duo, Bagas/Fikri could turn things around by winning four points in a row to win the game.

"In the match, we only focused on the game. Also don't make a lot of mistakes yourself. The rest, we must not be careless," said Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.