Jakarta: Day one of the 2018 Indonesia Open has been full of upsets, big names such as Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, Chen Long, Lin Dan, and Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen all became the first-round casualties at the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong failed to end their title drought since winning the Dubai Superseries final on December 2016 when they were shown the exit in the first round of Indonesia Open on Tuesday.
The 2016 Rio Olympic silver medalists were knocked out by Denmark’s eighth seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, losing 17-21, 21-19, 15-21.
“Their opponents played very well today especially in the third set. The Denmark pair was more aggressive and took control of the game. Astrup/Rasmussen control the shuttlecock better in the court that was affected with strong wind conditions,” said Malaysia’s men’s doubles coach Paulus Firman.
“I will evaluate V Shem/Wee Kiong’s performance when we go back to Malaysia. They will not participate in any tournaments as they will undergo intensive training to prepare for the World Championships in Nanjing next month,” added Firman.
After his shock defeat in the first round of the Malaysia Open last week, Rio Olympic men’s singles champion Chen Long lost in three games, 21-17, 20-22, 19-21 to France player Brice Leverdez in 86 minutes.
Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan was another Chinese player to fall in the opening day of Indonesia Open, going down to HS Prannoy of India 15-21, 21-9, 14-21.
In the second round, the 25-year-old Prannoy will face Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan, who outlasted B. Sai Praneeth of India 21-10, 21-13 in 35 minutes.
World No. 3 men’s pair Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen also suffered their second first round loss in two weeks when they were sent crashing out of the USD$1,250,000 Indonesia Open 21-13, 21-15 by Liao Min Chun/Su Ching Heng of Taiwan. Liao/Su are set to take on Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe of Japan next.
