The badminton championships are heating up again. After the shocking Thomas Uber Cup Finals, the heat will continue in the upcoming two events in Indonesia; the Indonesia Masters and the Indonesia Open. The Indonesia Masters will be held first on 7-12 June and will be followed by the Indonesia Open on 14-19 June 2022.
The Indonesia Masters, despite being below the Indonesia Open in terms of category level, is no less fierce. Almost all of the world's top badminton players will be present in the championships that will be held at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno or formerly known as Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In the men's singles, only Kento Momota from Japan from the world's top 10 is absent. But even without Momota, the championship with a total prize of USD 360,000 is not any less exciting. It will still be a tough competition that even for the Danish duo who occupy the first and second seeds, Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen, it will not be so easy to have both of them in the final.
One of the challengers is the two mainstays of the host, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie. However, the performance of these two is also no longer at the top. That can be seen in the Thomas Cup Finals 2022 match. Both of them were unable to contribute points for Indonesia when India defeated them in the final round. Fans' support alone is not enough for Anthony and Jojo to become champions. The other players to watch in the men's singles are Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia and Loh Kean Yew from Singapore. Zii Jia has beaten Axelsen twice with one of them in the All England 2021 final. Meanwhile, Loh Kean Yew has the power to beat Axelsen, who won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, at the 2021 World Championships.
It will be just as exciting in the men’s doubles. Even though Indonesia occupies the top seeds with Kevin Sanjaya/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, it is not a guarantee that there will be an all-Indonesian final. The results at the Tokyo Olympics are proof of that. Both pairs didn’t succeed in winning the gold medal. Kevin/Marcus only reached the quarter-finals and Hendra/Ahsan lost in the bronze medal contest. At the Indonesia Masters, the “golden dream” crusher, the Chinese Taipei couple Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin, will be present. They are placed as the third seed. Also, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik from Malaysia will take part in building the heat at the Indonesia Masters.
While in the women's singles, the top challenger, Chen Yu Fei from China, will face fierce resistance. The presence of Carolina Marin again could destroy her ambition to become a champion. She lost three times in five encounters with the Spanish badminton player who was placed as the third seed. Chen Yu Fei has a good chance of overcoming An Se Young from Korea as she has always won in seven meetings with the Korean player.
The Chinese women's doubles pair Chen Qingchen/Jia Yi Fan may use the Indonesia Masters as an outlet for revenge. Being the first seed, they certainly still cannot forget the bitter defeat by the Korean pair Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan in the Uber Cup Finals 2022 last May. Both are very likely to meet again in the final round. In the Uber Cup Finals 2022, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yi Fan lost three games 21-12, 18-21, 18-21. A result that made Korea regain confidence before finally defeating China with a score of 3-2.
Being the first seed is also not a guarantee for the Thai mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai to become champions. Moreover, in 2022, their achievements are not as superior as they were in 2021. This year, they have only won the German Open once. Moreover, at home during the Thailand Open which was held after the Thomas-Uber Cup and in the same place, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai failed to win. In the final, they lost to Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong from China. In the 2022 Indonesia Masters, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong also took part and were placed as the second-best. (*)
