Qualify For The Quarter-finals Of All England 2022, Praveen/Melati Are The Only Indonesian Mixed Doubles Representatives

Praveen/Jasmine (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Indonesian mixed doubles Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti qualified for the quarter-finals of the All England 2022 tournament after eliminating Malaysian representatives Hoo Pang Ron/Cheah Yee See 21-16, 21-14 at Utlita Arena Birmingham, England, Thursday local time.

Quoting Antara, Friday, Praveen/Melati are the only Indonesian mixed doubles representatives remaining at 2022 All England following the defeat of Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja over fourth seeds from Japan Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino 19-21, 17-21.

Praveen/Melati who came to the arena as the fifth seed had to face tough resistance from Hoo/Cheah at the beginning of the first game. The All England 2020 champion even fell behind 7-11 at the interval.

The world's number five pair only found their way into the game midway through when they scored six points without reply to return to a 14-12 lead.

The chase of numbers happened again until the position was level 16-16 before Praveen/Melati stepped on the gas to end the opening game with a 21-16 victory.

The second game was more intense where the two pairs exchanged points until the position was 10-10. But fortunately, Praveen/Melati were able to control the game after that and recorded five consecutive points to keep the points gap to 18-12, until finally, the world number five pair managed to close the second game with a score of 21-14.

This victory was not only the first for Praveen/Melati, but also their response to Hoo/Cheah who beat them in the 2021 Sudirman Cup quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals, Praveen/Melati face a tough challenge because they will face the third seed from China who is also the gold medalist at the 2022 Tokyo Olympics, Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping.

Indonesia had previously passed five representatives to the quarter-finals of the oldest badminton tournament. They are men's doubles Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana, Marcus Fernaldi/Kevin Sanjaya, Leo Rolly Carnanda/Daniel Marthin, Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, and men's singles Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's only women's doubles representative, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu, decided to withdraw from the 2022 All England because Apriyani's injury relapsed in the middle of the match against India's Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela.