BWF World Tour Finals 2023 Results: Fajar/Rian Win Compatriot Duel, Gregoria Falls in Opening Party

Fajar/Rian won in the first match of the BWF World Tour Finals 2023 (doc. PBSI).

JAKARTA - Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto managed to win the opening match against another Indonesian representative, Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, in Group B of the 2023 BWF World Tour Finals.

In the match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center, China, Wednesday, December 13, 2023, Fajar/Rian defeated Bagas/Fikri. The Indonesian men's doubles won two straight games with a score of 21-14 and 21-19

Since the start of the match, Fajar/Rian played freely and flawlessly. A neat game in attack and defense made Fajar/Rian achieve a fairly comfortable victory over Bakri, nicknamed Bagas/Fikri.

Bagas/Fikri gave fierce resistance before the first game interval. However, then Fajar/Rian were able to lead 11-9.

After the break, the former world number one in men's doubles was unstoppable and won 21-14 in the first game.

In the second game, Fajar/Rian won quite comfortably until the interval. The doubles nicknamed Fajri won four consecutive points to lead 13-6. After that Bagas/Fikri started to put up fierce resistance.

This effort was shown by increasing the tempo so that Bagas/Fikri were able to get closer to 12-14. The match became even more exciting when Bagas/Fikri closed to 18-19 from being two points behind previously.

Fajar/Alfian finally secured a 21-19 victory in the second game after Fajar's smash failed to be returned perfectly by Bagas.

Victory in the first round over their compatriots will lead Fajar/Rian to face Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the second match of Group B BWF World Tour Finals 2023 on Thursday, 14 December 2023.

Meanwhile, Bagas/Fikri will challenge Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae in the second match.

Before the men's doubles duel, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung appeared as the opening representative for Indonesia in the women's singles, but she lost in two straight games to Tai Tzu Ying, 18-21 and 17-21.