Jakarta: The men’s doubles coach for the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) – Herry Iman Pierngadi, said that World No. 7 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto will go to Japan as sparring partners to help prepare Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan for the Tokyo Olympics.
The Indonesian shuttlers will depart to Kumamoto, Japan on 8 July and will be trained in Kumamoto for slightly less than two weeks before leaving for Tokyo on July 18.
Alfian/Ardianto are Indonesia’s third men’s doubles pair and they should have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on merit. But based on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) regulations, each country could only send a maximum of two pairs in the doubles event if both of them were in the top eight rankings. In men’s doubles, Indonesia actually has three pairs that were ranked in the top eight, as Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan were ranked World No. 1 and World No. 2 respectively.
“There are few reasons why I want to bring Fajar/Rian to Tokyo. First, because their level of play is closest to Kevin/Marcus and Hendra/Ahsan. If you bring a sparring partner whose level is too far away from the top two pairs, it doesn’t make sense, and doesn’t match my expectations,” said Pierngadi.
“Secondly, if there was anything wrong with the two pairs, Fajar/Rian could be ready to compete in the Olympics immediately. I don’t know the exact rules, but for the Olympics, it’s the country that determines the players who will play, as long as the players qualify for the rankings. Since Fajar/Rian are in the top eight rankings, they could be our solid backup pair. However, this must be confirmed again by someone in term of how the rules and regulations works,” explained Pierngadi.
For that reason, Alfian/Ardianto would follow the Indonesian team to Tokyo after they finished their training camp in Kumamoto prefecture.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sports director Kit McConnell said on June 15: “If an athlete has to withdraw, then their place would be made available by the next highest ranked and eligible athlete.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alfian/Ardianto could be a strong backup if someone was tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan and had to withdraw from the Olympics.
“Based on information from Rionny (Mainaky), he said Fajar/Rian could join the athletes’ village, but everything is still uncertain. But as far as I know, if you are a sparring partner, you can only practice until Kumamoto and in Tokyo, they’ll need to live outside of the athletes’ village,” added Pierngadi.
In addition to Alfian/Ardianto, PBSI also sought more sparring partners from the Kumamoto club to help train with Sukamuljo/Gideon and Setiawan/Ahsan.
“Indeed, I have requested to the Kumamoto badminton club to send two to three people to help to spar with them in Kumamoto,” continued Pierngadi.
“One of our staff is currently in Japan and he has already arranged sparring partners from the Kumamoto badminton club,” said Kumamoto.
The Tokyo Olympics, which had been delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8. The badminton tournaments will be held at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza from 24 July to 2 August 2021.
