2022 BWF World Championships: Jonatan Christie Becomes Indonesia's Fourth Representative To Qualify For The Second Round

Indonesian men's singles, Jonathan Christie. (Photo: Twitter @INABadminton)

JAKARTA - Jonatan Christie became the fourth representative of Indonesia to ensure that he qualified for the second round of the 2022 BWF World Championship. The player who is familiarly called Jojo qualified after defeating the representative of Thailand, Toma Junior Popov.

Jojo secured victory within 34 minutes when competing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan, Monday, August 22, morning WIB. The Indonesian men's singles won two straight games with a final score of 21-9 and 21-11.

Since the first game, Jonathan tries to dominate the game. Popov then also showed resistance to the fourth point, but after that the Thai representative was even further behind because Jojo shot to secure 11-4 points in the first interval.

After the break, Jonathan tried to continue the good results created at the beginning. The situation this time was in Indonesia's favor because after the break, Popov was held back due to his frequent mistakes.

This became an advantage for Jonathan who then closed the first game by winning 21-9.

Entering the second game, it was Popov's turn to try to turn things around. However, his efforts were again to no avail because it was Jojo who was able to secure the starting point.

There had been successive turns in the struggle for points until the number 5-4 was controlled by Jonathan. However, after that the steps of the Indonesian representatives became smoother because again they excelled in the second interval with a score of 11-6.

After halftime, not many changes were made by the Thai representatives. Popov could only add five points to the end of the match. Meanwhile, Jojo managed to sprint back to secure the victory with a score of 21-11.

Previously, there were three Indonesian representatives who qualified for the second round. They are Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati.