Kumamoto Japan Masters 2024: Alwi Farhan Reaches Main Round

JAKARTA – Indonesian men's singles badminton player, Alwi Farhan, has won two qualifying round matches to enter the main draw for the 2024 Kumamoto Japan Masters.

The 2023 World Junior Champion secured a ticket to the last 32 after winning against Chinese singles player, Wang Zheng Xing, in the second match with a final score of 21-16 and 21-10 on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at noon of Western Indonesian Time (WIB).

"I am very happy to be able to advance to the main round. I hope I can maintain this performance," said Alwi in a statement received from Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) Public Relations.

Wang Zheng was a finalist at the 2024 Korea Masters last week. At that time, he had to be satisfied with being the runner-up after being stopped by Thai men's singles player, Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Alwi said that Wang is a typical player who has a very good and sharp attack. Fortunately, he was able to anticipate this and managed to suppress it.

"He kept forcing the attack several times, but I anticipated it by playing a rally. From there, it was seen that his foot speed started to slow down and I immediately took advantage of it," he said.

Earlier this morning, Alwi, who was the fourth seed in the qualification, started his journey in this event by stopping the Japanese singles player, Shogo Ogawa, in two straight games, namely 21-16 and 21-14.

In the main round tomorrow, November 13, 2024, Alwi will meet the French men's singles, Christo Popov. On paper, Popov has more experience than Alwi.

"Tomorrow I will face Christo (Popov), a more senior player with a lot of experience. I just hope I can maintain what I showed earlier," said Alwi.

Alwi's results mean that Indonesia has three men's singles in the main round of this BWF Super 500 level event. The other two names are Jonatan Christie and Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.

Jonatan and Chico will start their journey by both facing the Japanese singles. Jonatan meets Yushi Tanaka, while Chico meets Koki Watanabe.