Fajar/Rian's Surprising Confession After Being Eliminated From The World Championship

The pair Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. (Photo: Twitter/@INABadminton)

JAKARTA - The pair Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto had to lift the suitcase from the 2023 Badminton World Championships. The world number one men's doubles was eliminated in the round of 32, Thursday, August 24 in the morning WIB.

Fajar/Rian were confronted by the pair Lee Jhe Huei/Yang Po Hsuan. The Indonesian men's doubles lost two straight games 18-21, 19-21 to the Taiwanese representative after playing 39 minutes.

"We are disappointed with this defeat. We have not been able to show our best performance. We did not play well in this match," said Rian, after the match.

They admit that the defeat was not in line with expectations. Moreover, they appeared as top seeds in the prestigious tournament.

However, Lee/Yang did play well by displaying an aggressive pattern and tight defense.

"Sorry, we haven't been able to perform optimally and advance to the next round. Our game doesn't match expectations. The opponent also played very well and we couldn't get out of the pressure," Fajar said, as quoted by Antara.

Fajar/Rian said that their status as the world number one men's doubles did not become a burden when playing. However, the atmosphere of the match at the World Championships is different when compared to other tournaments.

Therefore, it takes a higher focus and quality of the game than other BWF tournaments. Unfortunately Fajar/Rian was not in his best form against Lee/Yang that night.

"Tampil di Kejuaraan Dunia itu memang harus memiliki fokus yang luar biasa dan performa terbaik. Mungkin kami terlalu menggebu-gebu tampil di sini, tetapi hasil akhirnya malah tidak sesuai keharapan," ujar Fajar.

After the defeat, Fajar/Rian could only conduct an evaluation in preparation for the next tournaments. Consistency and game stability are the biggest aspects that they must fix.

"We certainly don't want results like this. We have to introspect again with this defeat to face the next tournaments," Fajar concluded.