Tokyo: The Indonesian badminton team landed in Japan on Thursday night. 15 shuttlers together with other coaches and staff members will begin their recovery process after a long traveling period from Jakarta since Thursday morning.
“Thank god that our players have arrived safely in Tokyo. We are all very excited about the tournament. However, it’s kind of tiring for all of us because we took the flight at six in the morning and only arrived here at seven in the evening,” said the Head of Development and Achievement of Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), Rionny Mainaky.
Mainaky said that the Indonesian team received a warm welcome from the Indonesian Embassy at the Narita Airport. After that, the team had to take a bus to travel to their hotel which was 72km and about one hour and 30 minutes away from the airport.
Upon arriving at the hotel, everyone has to undergo a PCR test before they were allowed to go to their respective hotel rooms.
“We did a PCR test two days before our departure, and we had to do another PCR test as required by Badminton World Federation (BWF) because the COVID-19 cases in Japan are still very high,” added Mainaky.
When asked about Indonesia’s chances at the 2022 World Championships, Mainaky said that both the men’s doubles and men’s singles departments have strong chances of winning gold in Tokyo.
“As for the target, I am hoping that our four men’s doubles could win the world title. Marcus/Kevin and Ahsan/Hendra are still in the world’s top 3. Then, Fajar/Rian have been very consistent this year and Bagas/Fikri won the 2022 All England. They have been training very hard, and they are determined that they want to win the world title. This is a positive attitude,” continued Mainaky.
“Apart from the men’s doubles, the men’s singles are also in pretty good condition too. They already know their potential opponents and have been prepared to face those who are considered the strongest, such as Viktor Axelsen from Denmark. I hope Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Jonatan Christie, and Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo can clinch the title,” explained Mainaky.
