JAKARTA - The top seeded men's doubles Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon or familiarly called the Minions filed a protest against the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after winning the first round of the Indonesia Open due to the close match schedule.
The protest in question is the BWF's decision to place the Minions on the schedule for the first day of the match in Nusa Dua, Bali, Tuesday even though on Sunday they had just passed the final round of the Indonesia Masters which was very tight.
"First of all, we are grateful to be able to make it through today. But we think BWF treats us like robots, because after playing on Sunday, we started playing today because we were the first seed," Kevin said as quoted by Antara.
Based on BWF rules, each participant in the top half of the pool will compete in the first round on the second day of the tournament. While those who competed on the first day were participants in the lower half of the pool.
In addition, there is also a policy for players who have just entered the final round of matches to be given the opportunity to rest and be placed on the second day of the match schedule.
However, Kevin/Marcus, who just played the top match of the Indonesia Masters on Sunday, actually got the schedule for the first round of the Indonesia Open on the first day or Tuesday.
"It's not fair, there is no rest, especially after going through a very intense final yesterday. Of course this decision has a very physical impact," Kevin said firmly.
Marcus also admitted that he was surprised by the existing schedule because he only found out the results of the draw for Monday night's match. According to him, this is outside the usual BWF tournament so it is very detrimental to the Minions.
"I also don't know if I will play today, because I thought I would play on Wednesday and could have Tuesday and Monday off. When the schedule came out last night, it turned out to be playing today. Usually it's not like that, because I can take a break first," he said. Marcus.
Due to this close schedule, the Minions admitted that they did not have special preparations for their first match in the Super 1000 tournament.
"We don't have special preparations, just play without a burden. If you lose, what can you do," concluded Kevin.
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