Home2017Tontowi blow for Indonesia in Robot Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2017

Tontowi blow for Indonesia in Robot Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2017

Indonesia will be without their Rio Olympics mixed doubles gold medallist Tontowi Ahmad for the inaugural Robot Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships which begin in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Tuesday (Feb 14-19).

The Indonesian ace has pulled out of the Asian meet after coming down with high fever and was also forced to withdraw from the on-going Thailand Masters in Bangkok.

Tontowi has since recovered and is back in training but he is not in the best of shape for a competitive competition. Instead, he will focus his training on next month's prestigious Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham.

Tontowi has a new mixed doubles partner following the retirement of Liliyana. His new partner is Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. Tontowi will be replaced by Subaktiar who was Gloria's partner before.

Despite Tontowi's absence Indonesia are still confident of advancing to the knockout stage in the Asian Mixed Team Championships. The top two in each group will advance to the knockout stage.

Indonesia are drawn in the three-team Group C and have Malaysia and Sri Lanka for company. The Indonesians open their group campaign against Sri Lanka on Wednesday and face Malaysia the next day.

Team manager Lius Pongoh said Tontowi's absence has not affected the team much because Gloria will renew her old partnership with Edi Subaktiar and they will be able to hold their own in the Asian meet. The other mixed doubles pair in the Indonesian team is Alfian Eko Prasetya-Annisa Saufika.

"Our target is still the same..to finish as group champions first before we think of our next opponents," said Pongoh.

Indonesia have included up and coming 17-year-old Gregoria Mariska, who finished runners-up to India's Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu in the women's singles in the recent Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow, India.

Mariska, was also runners-up in last year's Asian Junior Under-19 championships in Bangkok where she lost to China's Chen Yufei in the final 25-23, 21-14. Yufei is the reigning junior world champion.

In the women's doubles Indonesia will bank on their national No 2 pair Angga Shitta-Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut and No 4 pair Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah-Rizki Amelia Pradipta.

In the men's singles the burden is carried by their No 7 ranked Firman Abdul Kholik and Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu. The men's doubles pairs are Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi and Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira-Ade Yusuf.

Indonesia are unseeded in the Asian meet. China are the top seeds followed by South Korea, Japan and Malaysia. The seedings are based on the overall team strength based on BWF world rankins dated Jan 19. 

The Indonesian Team

Men: 
Singles
Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu
Firman Abdul Kholik

Doubles
Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi
Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira-Ade Yusuf

Women:
Singles
Hanna Ramadini
Gregoria Mariska

Doubles
Angga Shiita Awanda-Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut
Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah, Rizki Amelia Pradipta

Mixed doubles
Alfian Eko Prasetya- Annisa Saufika
Edi Subaktiar-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja
 

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