Japan Masters 2023: Ginting And Chico Lose, Men's Singles Remaining One

Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo while playing in the first round of the 2023 Japan Masters (doc. PBSI).

JAKARTA Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo failed to catch up with Jonatan Christie to the second round of Japan Masters 2023.

Ginting's journey stopped after a dramatic loss of three games with scores 16-21, 21-18, and 17-21 against Chinese representative Weng Hong Yang, at the Kumamoto Predictural Gymnasium, Wednesday, November 15 evening WIB.

This defeat exacerbated Ginting's winning-loss record to 0-4. Three of the four defeats occurred this year after he previously lost at the Malaysia Masters and the Denmark Open.

Ginting said that compared to their previous meeting, he was more satisfied with his performance today even though he could not give it a win.

"Even though I haven't been able to win, I'm still happy with today's performance because I can overcome the opponent's game compared to the previous meeting," said the owner of the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Meanwhile, Chico had to lift his suitcase from the BWF Super 500 level event after being stopped by Denmark's first seed Viktor Axelsen, two straight games, 11-21 and 7-21.

This defeat made Chico's meeting record with Axelsen even worse. From a total of five clashes, he was not able to stop the world number one badminton player once.

Chico said that Axelsen has always been a tough opponent. Axelsen, said Chico, rarely makes mistakes on his own.

"Of course I'm not satisfied with this result. However, there are many lessons that I can get from this match. Axelsen, who I'm facing this time, is indeed a more experienced player," said Chico.

The defeat of Anthony Ginting and Chico left the Indonesian men's singles, Jonatan Christie. The owner of the 2018 Asian Games gold medal advanced to the second round after stopping Chi Yu Jen (China Taipei).