JAKARTA - Indonesian mixed doubles Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti fell to their knees in front of the Tokyo Olympic vice-host pair Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino in the final Group C elimination match.
In the match which took place at Field 1 Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Praveen/Melati, who are ranked fourth in the world, were defeated in two 30-minute games with a score of 13-21, 10-21.
The first game didn't go smoothly for Praveen/Melati. Throughout the match, Praveen/Melati continued to lag behind the representative of the host.
Meanwhile, Watanabe/Higashino has dominated since the beginning of the first game, by widening the 7-0 gap with the Garuda representative.
Getting left behind, even with a distance of 6-15, Praveen/Melati was no longer able to catch up, and finally lost with an initial score of 13-21.
Entering the second game, the two pairs had chased in the early minutes. Unfortunately, that only happened until the position was tied at 3-3.
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After that, Praveen/Melati again left behind. Meanwhile his opponent continued to shoot, collecting points with ease. There was no strong resistance from Praveen/Melati to stop Watanabe/Higashino's attacks.
Praveen/Melati started to get overwhelmed, unable to withstand the onslaught of Watanabe/Higashino, who are ranked fifth in the world, and gave up with a final score of 10-21.
The result of that match was the only defeat for Praveen/Melati during the preliminary phase of Group C of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
From the three preliminary matches, Praveen/Melati bagged two wins, namely over Australian pair Simon Wing Hang Leung/Gronya Somerville with a score of 20-22, 21-17, 21-13 on Saturday, July 24.
Then against Denmark's Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje 24-22, 21-19 on Sunday, 25 July.
After Praveen/Melati, there are still three representatives of the Red and White team that will compete on Monday, namely the men's doubles Group A Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo against the Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty at 10.40 western Indonesia time.
Then followed by the women's doubles match Group A Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu against England representatives Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith at 16.00 western Indonesia time.
Then closed with the appearance of the men's doubles Group D Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan against Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik from Malaysia at 17.20 western Indonesia time.
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