Nova Widianto Reveals Constraints Of His Foster Children Difficult To Beat Rinov/Pitha

Mixed doubles pair Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (Instagram/@phmentari).

JAKARTA Nova Widianto revealed the problem why it was the Malaysian mixed doubles team Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei that it was difficult to beat Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.

Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei is one of the top pairs today that have stopped opponents from the top five BWF rankings. However, they have never won against Rinov/Pitha.

"Tang Jie/Ee Wei are not themselves who usually fight Rinov/Pita. They lost three meetings. That's because they tend to follow the rhythm of the opponent's game," Nova said as quoted by The Star.

Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei currently ranks ninth BWF. The place is clearly better than Rinov/Pitha who are ranked 18th.

Despite being in the rankings, Chen/Toh have never won once in three meetings with Rinov/Pitha last year. The three tournaments in question are the China Masters, Australian Open, and Malaysia Masters.

This year, Chen/Toh are scheduled to meet Rinov/Pitha again in the first round of the India Open in New Delhi on January 16-21, 2024.

Nova warned that if he didn't want to lose earlier then his team should not be trapped into Rinov/Pita's game plan.

"They have to take the initiative by playing faster and not letting Rinov/Pita control the game. If they can keep this up, they can win and aim for better results at the India Open," he said.

Chen/Toh so far recorded as having defeated the world number two pair from Japan, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, the world number three pair from South Korea, Seo Sung-jae/Chae Yu-jung, the world number four Chinese pair, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping, and the world number five Chinese pair Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin.

The world number one pair from China, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, is the only pair of the top five that has never been defeated by Malaysia's mixed doubles.