Qualifying The Second Round Of Artik Open 2023, Hendra/Ahsan Target To Semifinals First

The couple Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan. (Photo: Twitter @INABadminton)

JAKARTA - Men's doubles pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan qualified for the second round of the 2023 Artik Open after defeating Danish representatives, Andreas Sondergaard/Jesper Toft.

The pair nicknamed The Daddies reached the second half after securing the victory of two straight games 21-15 and 21-19 at Vantaa Energia Arena, Finland, Wednesday, October 11, 2023.

"Today we are still adapting to the field, especially with the shuttlecock condition. We didn't have time to try the shuttlecock at the practice while in Jakarta. Just yesterday during training here, we just tried and the shuttlecock was quite fast. For the field there were no problems," said Hendra.

"In the first match, we tried to apply it not to lift the ball much. The Danish pair had hard smashes. That's what we are trying to anticipate and be aware of," he added.

Hendra/Ahsan are the second representatives of Indonesia to reach the second half. Previously, the second round ticket had been obtained by mixed doubles Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.

Hendra said that he and his colleagues would try to take advantage of the absence of several top players at the BWF Super 500 level event.

"The attention of the top pairs makes me want to be able to enter the semifinals first in this tournament. To be able to improve the rankings and hopefully to return to the top eight," he said.

Apart from Hendra/Ahsan, Indonesia still has Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Rambitan and Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

The couple immediately faced each other after this. Therefore, Indonesia automatically has one men's doubles representative who qualified for the second round