JAKARTA The mixed doubles coach Amon Santoso believes his team Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari can reach the semifinals of the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 after the draw results come out.
The draw of the competition involving the eight best players from the five events was held at the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Center, Center World, Bangkok, Monday, December 5 evening.
Rinov/Pitha, who are the only Indonesian mixed doubles representatives, were in the Group A draw with Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (China), Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai (Malaysia), and Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (France).
"The draw results are quite good. Outside Zheng/Huang, the strength is still evenly distributed, so I see there is an opportunity for Rinov/Pitha to advance to the semifinals while they can appear fit and maximum," said Amon in a statement received, Tuesday, December 6.
However, their chances of reaching that round could be disrupted because Pitha is not yet fit because he was disturbed by injury.
The 23-year-old badminton player suffered a tailbone injury which hampered his preparations for the event which was held from December 7 to 11, at Nimibutr Arena, Bangkok, Thailand.
"Rinov is in top condition while Pitha has pulled his tail during preparations in Jakarta. After undergoing therapy, he is now better. Hopefully, during tomorrow's match there will be no more pain," said Amon.
This year's World Tour Finals will be the debut for the pair ranked 13th in the world. In the first match they immediately faced the first seed Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong.
On paper Zheng/Huang lead a 1-0 win over Rinov/Pitha. The only meeting took place at the Malaysia Open 2022 last July.
Rinov/Pitha also have a bad record with Malaysian representatives Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon. So far the Malaysian pair have won 3-0.
Meanwhile, they have never faced each other's French representatives Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
