Kumamoto Japan Masters 2024: Jonathan Christie Advances Smoothly

JAKARTA Men's singles badminton player Jonatan Christie still hasn't lost a single game when he won the first round of the Kumamoto Japan Masters 2024.

Jonathan appeared almost flawless and won two straight games 21-15 and 21-11 over Yushi Tanaka from Japan on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, afternoon WIB.

"I know that Yushi is a player who is tenuous, thorough, and not easy to turn off, typical Japanese players," Jonatan said in a statement received from PBSI.

The Japanese Kumamoto Masters is one of two major tournaments (with the China Masters) left in this year's calendar before the closing of the BWF World Tour Finals (WTF) season in Hangzhou, China, in December 2024.

Both events are very important for Jonathan to be able to get the opportunity to appear in BWF WTF later. Currently, Jonathan has not met the requirements to qualify for the event.

"I don't think I will appear in the World Tour Finals. The opportunity is still there, but I don't want to focus on it," said the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist.

Jonathan is one of three Indonesian men's singles who played at the Kumamoto Japan Masters 2024. He came there with Alwi Farhan and Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.

So far Alwi is still the only men's singles to fall from the tournament. Chico will only play tonight.