Indonesian young guns Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan carried the fight for the Southeast Asian nation after taking a men’s doubles Round of 16 win over Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia, 21-16, 18-21, 21-16, in the SMART Badminton Asia Championships 2022, Thursday at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Muntinlupa City.
This is the first match for the pair in the tournament and they will return right again on Friday for the quarterfinals.
“We are happy with our performance today, but we have a match tomorrow so we need to keep our focus and try harder,” Kusumawardana shared.
The 2018 World Juniors bronze medalist in boys’ doubles also said that they have met Ong and Teo in a previous loss, but they were able to adjust this time to take a win instead. He said, “I think we were patient right now. The last time we played them, we were impatient. We always tried to attack them like smash, hit hard. But today, we have controlled the situation.”
The road to the semifinals will be tough as they drew the world No. 4 in Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo of Japan who came back against Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han, 13-21, 21-17, 21-16.
Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee of Malaysia ended the hosts’ campaign as they took down hometown bets Paul John Pantig and Christian Bernardo, 21-7, 21-12.
On the women’s side, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti and Ribka Sugiarto also booked their spot in the last eight to join Kusumawardana and Rambitan. The world No. 32 Indonesians took down Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ching Hui and Lee Chih Chen, 21-13, 21-15.
Du Yue and Li Wen of China will take on Ramadhanti and Sugiarto next after they stunned world No. 8 in Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai, 21-11, 18-21, 21-17.
In the women’s singles, world No. 4 An Se-young of South Korea protected her side of the draw with a 21-7, 21-19 win over China’s Zhang Yi Man. China, though, got one through as world No. 16 Wang Zhi Yi ended former world No. 1 and India’s Sania Nehwal’s stint in the tournament with a 12-21, 21-7, 21-13 contest.
Li Shi Feng, also of China, continued his dream run in men’s singles with a hard-fought 22-20, 23-21 decision over Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, while Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan cruised past Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, 21-9, 21-10, to join Li in the last eight.
The remaining Round of 16 matches in all events — men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles are ongoing as of publishing.
The tournament is made possible by SMART, MVP Sports Foundation, Li-Ning, Cignal, TV5, One Sports, Robinson’s Land, Premium Megastructure Inc., Philippine Badminton Association, Badminton Asia, the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, and Muntinlupa Mayor Fresnedi and the City of Muntinlupa.
