The victory at the Malaysia Open, which is one in the series of the Super 750 on the BWF World badminton tournament calendar, was sealed after they defeated Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu (China), 21-18, 12-21, 21-19.
By
YULIA SAPTHIANI
·5 minutes read
AP/KIEN HUO
Apriyani Rahayu, right, and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadanti of Indonesia celebrate after defeating China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu during their women's doubles final match at the Malaysia Open badminton tournament at Bukit Jalil Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday (3/7/2022).
KUALA LUMPUR, SUNDAY — When coach Eng Hian asked a “do you feel it’s enough” question, Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti knew he was gauging their level of ambition, and both replied: "No. We are ready for the next one.”
The question was thrown out by Eng Hian shortly after he had embraced and congratulated the Indonesian women’s doubles pair on winning the Malaysian Open title at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday (3/7/2022). They were celebrating the victory at a court’s corner.
The victory at the Malaysia Open, which is one in the series of the Super 750 on the BWF World badminton tournament calendar, was sealed after they defeated Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu (China), 21-18, 12-21, 21-19. It was the only title for the Indonesian team as Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto lost to Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi (Japan), 22-24, 21-16, 9-21 in the men's doubles final.
For Apriyani/Fadia, the Malaysia Open title was their second top prize, which came only two months after they had first played as a pair. They won the gold medal in their debut at the 2021 Vietnam Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May.
At the Indonesia Masters, at which badminton fans attended matches for the first time in the last two years inside the Istora indoor stadium, Apriyani/Fadia fought the odds by overcoming their higher-rated opponents to reach the final.
After Vietnam, they started their BWF World Tour with two tournaments in Jakarta, Indonesia Masters Super 500 and Indonesia Open Super 1000, on 7-19 June. At the Indonesia Masters, at which badminton fans attended matches for the first time in the last two years inside the Istora indoor stadium, Apriyani/Fadia fought the odds by overcoming their higher-rated opponents to reach the final.
Even though they finally lost to the world's number-one women's doubles, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, the two tomboy-style players proved their mettle by getting rid of Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan, who were one of the top-ten pairs in the world. At the Indonesia Open, which was played a week later, they shocked the 2018 and 2019 world champions, Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara, in the opening round. They exited the tournament in the quarterfinals.
In Malaysia, All England champions Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida were Apriyani/Fadia's big scalp in the second round, thanks to the Indonesians’ unrivalled speed play. Learning from their failed final at the Indonesia Masters, they avenged their defeat in a rematch over Chen/Jia in the quarterfinals, en route to their victory over Zhang/Zheng in final. It was a back-to-back win over the same opponents after their meeting in the second round of the Indonesia Open.
At the end of the encounter, Apriyani and Fadia hugged each other for a while on the field in elation before acknowledging the crowd who had been applauding them from the stand. Approaching and embracing them, Eng Hian reminded them that the Malaysia title was only part of the beginning of the journey ahead for the 24 and 21-year-old pair, respectively.
AP/KIEN HUO
Apriyani Rahayu, right, and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadanti of Indonesia celebrate on the podium after defeating China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu in their women's doubles final match at the Malaysia Open badminton tournament at Bukit Jalil Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday (3/7/2022).
"Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), we did want to win. Every match challenges us with a target and today [the target] was achieved by winning the Malaysia Open. However, we shouldn’t feel complacent.
There is still Malaysia Masters next week. We have to prepare again. We have just started our journey. When we get off the podium, we start over again,” Apriyani said.
While hailing the victory as a confidence booster, she said they would have to become more vigilant because opponents were becoming aware of their tactical play.
“When they first played us, they certainly were still looking for a way to face me and Fadia. So, we tried to take advantage of that. Going forward, we have to be vigilant," said the Tokyo 2020 Olympic women's doubles gold medalist, pairing with Greysia Polii.
World's elite crop
Fadia became Apriyani’s new playing partner following Greysia's retirement, announced in 2021. On several occasions, Eng Hian said that developing Apriyani and Fadia to become a world elite pair has posed different challenges from grooming Greysia and Apriyani.
Apriyani/Greysia made their debut at the Sudirman Cup in May 2017, with Greysia being more experienced than Apriyani. The experience gap between Greysia and Apriyani exceeded that between Apriyani and her junior Fadia. Eng Hian said he had drawn up a development program for Apriyani and Fadia in their quest for world's top women's doubles status.
The next stage’s plan is for Apriyani/Fadia to build consistency in play, indicated by their march to win major tournaments, or at least semifinals. In this stage, they should not lose to a pair below their ranking.
They managed to beat a number of the world's top-ten players, which Eng Hian said was an accomplishment in the first-stage targets. They are still expected to continue to shape up their game further. The next stage’s plan is for Apriyani/Fadia to build consistency in play, indicated by their march to win major tournaments, or at least semifinals. In this stage, they should not lose to a pair below their ranking.
"I feel happy to win because when I was first paired with Kak Apri, we had to postpone our debut because she had a minor injury. Alhamdulillah, we were able to win the SEA Games and a BWF World Tour tournament of the first four tournaments. Hopefully in the future I can play better with more confidence. And I will continue to learn," Fadia said.
HUMAS PP PBSI
Fajar/Rian in Indonesia Open, Bali, Rabu (24/11/2021)
Meanwhile, Fajar/Rian's loss in the final caused their failure to add to the six BWF World Tour Super 300 and 500 titles they had won, beginning in 2018. “We fell short of putting in an optimal play today. We made a flurry of mistakes. The turning point was maybe in the first game when we were not venturous enough while holding game points," Fajar said.
In the men's singles, Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) was unstoppable in his Asian tour. His landslide victory over Kento Momota (Japan), 21-4, 21-7 gave him a third title after winning the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open.
The two other events, mixed doubles and women's singles, also had the winners from different countries. Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (China) won the mixed doubles, while Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) took the women's singles.
