JAKARTA - Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon are grateful to be able to overcome the pressure imposed by the British men's doubles Ben Lane/Sean Vendy during their inaugural meeting at the Tokyo Olympics, Saturday, July 24.
The world number one pair considered Ben/Sean a pretty shrewd opponent because they could press tightly in the first match. Luckily they can get out of that pressure.
"The opponent played well, but we also felt that our performance was good enough today. They were very fast, especially in the first game. But we could overcome it and were much better in the second game," Marcus said as quoted by PBSI's official statement via Antara, Saturday, July 24.
Although there was a sense of tension due to competing in the Olympics for the first time, the pair nicknamed the Minions were able to pack a victory in two straight games 21-15, 21-11.
Kevin/Marcus also became the talk of many parties because they had not competed at the international level for a long time, so their performance would be doubted in a higher event.
"We haven't competed in competitive matches for a long time. But we have good training opponents in the national training. All of the men's doubles players are world class, so during yesterday's long training we felt the competitive atmosphere was still there," said Marcus.
Including the training program in Kumamoto last week was also considered to have a lot of influence on their technical and mental mastery.
Meanwhile, Kevin wants to appear more comfortable and relaxed at the Olympics. He did not want expectations that were too high to become a burden that could hinder their game.
"We don't want to think too much about the pressure of playing here. We want to enjoy it, we still have games to play," Kevin said.
Furthermore, Marcus/Kevin will meet Rankireddy/Shetty on July 26 and Lee/Wang on July 27.
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