Malaysia Open 2026 Draw Results: Sabar/Reza Directly Meet Raymond/Nikolaus

JAKARTA - The International Badminton Federation (BWF) has conducted a draw for the 2026 Malaysia Open, a BWF Super 1000-level tournament that will take place next week.

As a result, two Indonesian men's doubles were immediately involved in a civil war, namely the pair of Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Mohammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani with Raymond Indra/Nikolaus Joaquin.

Sabar/Reza came to the opening BWF World Tour tournament after successfully winning the gold medal at the 2025 SEA Games which took place in Thailand this month.

Meanwhile, Raymond/Nikolaus will make their debut in the Super 1000-level tournament after successfully making a surprise exit as champions in the 2025 Australian Open in November.

The Indonesian men's doubles sent a total of three representatives to the Axiata Arena. Another pair was Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, who got the status as the sixth seed in the tournament.

Fajar/Fikri - who have performed very consistently since being paired in the middle of this year - will begin their journey in Malaysia by playing against Fang-Chih Lee/Fang-Jen Lee from China Taipei.

From the men's singles, Indonesia sent Jonatan Christie and Alwi Farhan. Jonatan, who has the status of the fourth seed, will be challenged by Lee Chia Hao (China Taipei), while Alwi meets the seventh seed Alex Lanier (France).

Furthermore, Putri Kusuma Wardani must bear the burden alone in the women's singles sector following the withdrawal of Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. Putri, the sixth seed, will start with a match against Manami Suizu from Japan.

The women's doubles also only have a single representative, namely the pair of Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. This pair will be tested by Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela in the first round.

The other two representatives from the mixed doubles sector are the pair of Jafar Hidayatullah/Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu and Marwan Faza/Aisyah Salsabila Putri Pranata.

Jafar/Felisha had to go through a tough test in the first round against the fourth-seeded Malaysia, Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei. In the previous six clashes this year, Jafar/Felisha had never won.

As for Marwan/Aisyah, they met the French mixed doubles, Julien Maio/Lea Palermo. On paper, Marwan/Aisyah are certainly favored to continue their journey to the second round.