JAKARTA - The men's doubles Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri managed to stop the pair of Takumi Nomura/Yuichi Shimogami to continue their journey to the 2026 China Open quarter finals.
Fajar/Fikri, who are ranked as the second seeds in the BWF Super 1000, got the ticket after going through a two-game match that ended with a score of 21-19 and 21-11 on Thursday, July 23, 2026, afternoon WIB.
"First of all, thank God for today's victory. As for the match yesterday, the condition of the 1st court was very different from the 2nd court yesterday. The wind here is really strong," said Fajar after the match.
Fajar/Fikri faced a very tight match in the first game even though they were in a position of wind advantage. In this game they were leading 8-5, but the opponent then managed to take over and was one point ahead at the interval.
The chase for the numbers still occurred after the two pairs returned from the break. However, after Fajar/Fikri managed to score five consecutive points from a situation of being behind 13-14, they managed to change the course of the match in the first game.
Fajar/Fikri then started the second game brilliantly and managed to take a 5-0 lead. The lead then increased to seven points at the interval, making it more difficult for the opponent pair to get closer.
"In the first game we won the wind, the strategy was how we had to lower the ball, but many were too careful. In the second game we lost the wind, we tried to change the pattern by playing long-long and it turned out to be comfortable to control the game," said Fajar.
Fajar/Fikri is the first Indonesian men's doubles to reach the last eight from the three pairs who fought in the second round. Before them, the pair of Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Mohammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani had already been eliminated.
This sector can still add tickets through the pair of Raymond Indra/Nikolaus Joaquin. The pair has not played against the seventh seeded host Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi when this news was written.
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