Indonesia Masters 2023: Beat the Second Seed, Tommy Sugiarto to the Semifinals

Men's singles, Tommy Sugiarto. (Photo: Twitter/@INABadminton)

JAKARTA – Indonesian men's singles badminton player, Tommy Sugiarto, managed to qualify for the semifinals of the 2023 Indonesia Masters after stopping second seed, Su Li Yang.

Tommy had to play for 63 minutes to secure a dramatic three-game victory 24-22, 12-21, 21-13 over the representatives of Taiwan at the PBSI Pancing Sports Hall, Deli Serdang, Medan, Friday, 8 September 2023.

In the semifinals tomorrow, the 35-year-old badminton player will face Kiran George. India's men's singles reached the semifinals after defeating Thailand's representative, Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul.

Meanwhile, from the women's singles event, Indonesia will definitely get a ticket to the final round. This is because the two remaining representatives, Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi and Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo, both escaped and immediately faced each other.

Komang made a surprise move to the semifinals after winning with a score of 21-19, 21-13 over the representative of Chinese Taipei, Huang Yu-Hsuan. This result was unexpected because the badminton player from Bali was not in the best condition.

"I see this fight as a non-technical battle considering that the opponent looks overwhelmed in anticipating the wind direction in the arena," said the runner-up of the Denmark Masters 2023.

Meanwhile, Ester followed her colleague after beating sixth seed Japan, Riko Gunji. This will be the third clash between the two Indonesian representatives in an official event after they beat each other in the two previous meetings.

Komang first defeated Ester at the German Junior 2020 event. Revenge was then carried out by Ester when they faced each other at the Indonesia International Challenge last year.

Mixed doubles pair Marwan Faza/Jessica Maya Rismawardani also secured tickets for the semifinal round for Indonesia.

The 127th ranked pair in the world advanced to the semifinals after beating Thailand's Phatharathorn Nipornram/Nattamon Laisuan through a rubber game battle 15-21, 21-13, 21-19.

So far three Indonesian representatives have failed in the quarter-finals, each from mixed doubles, men's doubles and women's doubles.

From the mixed doubles, Zaidan Arrafi Nabawi/Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu failed. Meanwhile, in the women's doubles, Meilysa Trias Puspitasari / Rachel Allessya Rose failed, while in the men's doubles, Muhammad Al Farizi / Nicolaus Joaquin failed to reach the semifinals.