Jakarta: The Tokyo Olympic Games will start in 14 days amid a global pandemic. Olympic athletes have begun to arrive in Tokyo and the Indonesian badminton team is scheduled to depart for Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan on July 8, 2021, staying there for 10 days before going to Tokyo on July 18.
The World No. 2 men’s doubles pair – Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan admitted the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges, therefore, they would need to stay vigilant and follow the health and safety measures.
“The Tokyo Olympics are different from the 2016 Rio Olympics because we are in a pandemic situation. Therefore, we have to be more careful and take care of our health. Not only that we’ll face our opponents on the badminton court, but we also have to beware of this invisible enemy. Many things will be different,” said Ahsan to PBSI.
Tokyo will be the second Olympics participated by Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, a.k.a “The Daddies” after the 2016 Rio Olympics. In Rio, Setiawan/Ahsan were seeded second, but couldn’t advance to the knockout stage after losing to Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan and Chai Biao/Hong Wei of China in the group stage.
“It’s a different type of pressure this year. We played with high hopes in the 2016 Rio Olympics but the results were not good. This year, we have managed to stay under the radar, so we hope to be able to play more freely without too much pressure,” said Setiawan.
The pair does not want to be too ambitious and want to go through one match at a time. As for the target, they just want to win a medal but hope the results can exceed their expectations in Tokyo.
Setiawan/Ahsan and No. 1 seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo are the two Indonesian men’s pairs that will be competing in the Olympics. The three-time World Champions (2013, 2015, and 2019) told PBSI that they are now ready for the Olympics.
“We have been learning how to take care of our health. We have gone through many safety protocols such as taking several swab test as it’s part of the requirements before flying and the results were negative,” continued Ahsan.
“For now, about 90 percent of our practice has been focusing on our technique. Our physical training has been reduced because we are about to depart for Japan,” explained Setiawan.
According to their coach, Herry Iman Pierngadi, he said the training in Kumamoto mainly trying to help the players adapt to the environment in Japan and to strengthen their focus.
“I am optimistic that training in Kumamoto can improve their performance and focus because we have 10 days for the final preparation before entering the athletes’ village in Tokyo,” said Pierngadi on Wednesday.
