On the first day of the 2022 Asian Badminton Championships, there were only matches in the main round of men's doubles and mixed doubles. Meanwhile, in the women's singles, a qualifying match was held.
The men's doubles seeded players of the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships had to work hard since day 1. Second seed Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan was forced to play for 58 minutes to beat Taiwan doubles Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han 13-21, 21-17, 21-16.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medal winners Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik from Malaysia, who is also seeded fifth, were also forced to sweat before winning three games 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 over China's Representative He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong. The fourth seed Rian Ardianto/Fajar Alfian were forced to work hard, especially in the second game. The Indonesian pair finally defeated Indian doubles MR Arjun/Druv Kapila with 21-16, 24-22.
Meanwhile, the men's doubles champion at the prestigious All England tournament, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana from Indonesia, was eliminated on day 1. They lost in three games 21-18, 17-21, 17-21 to Japanese pair Akira Goka/Taichi/Saito in a match that was held on Tuesday local time.
In the mixed doubles, China's top seeds Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong also had to play tight for two games before beating Thailand's Ratchapol Makkasasithorn/Jhenicha Sudjaipparat 21-16, 22-20. On the other hand, the second seed Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino had no difficulty in defeating Indonesian women's doubles Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati 21-5, 21-12.
Among the top seeds of the mixed doubles, the sixth seed of Hong Kong Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet was out of luck. They were defeated by Indonesian women's doubles Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 10-21, 19-21. This victory is Rinov/Pitha's first victory over their opponent who is ranked seventh in the world. In their previous meetings with Tang/Tse, the All England 2020, and Indonesia Masters 2021, the Indonesian pair had always lost.
This victory opened their possibility to get through to the quarter-finals wider. Rivaldy/Mentari’s chance to defeat their next opponent, Hussein Zayan Shaheed/Fathimath Nabaaha from the Maldives is quite high. Shaheed/Nabaaha qualified for the second round after their Japanese opponents Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito withdrew.
