Jakarta: After losing to Endo Hiroyuki/Hayakawa Kenichi of Japan and Chai Biao/Hong Wei of China in the group stage of Rio Olympics, we knew this was coming, but didn’t expect that moment would happen so soon.
Reigning men’s doubles World Champions and World No. 5 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia have decided to end their four-year doubles partnership in October.
They play their last two tournaments namely Japan (Sept 20 to Sept 25) and Korea Open (Sept 27 to Oct 2) Superseries before bidding farewell to their partnership.
The Indonesian men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi has also confirmed the pair will be separated.
“It’s time for senior players such as Hendra and Setiawan to share their experience and to guide our junior players.”
“Hendra will partner with Rian Agung Saputro, while Ahsan’s new partner will be Berry Angriawan.”
“Both Rian and Berry are very inconsistent in their games, therefore, Hendra and Ahsan will become their mentor at the upcoming Denmark and France Open.”
Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan are one of the greatest men’s doubles pair in badminton. They have won the 2013, 2015 World Championships and went on to win at the 2015 BWF World Superseries Finals. However, they have gone through several ups and downs throughout the 2016 season, which eventually led to their break-up.
