Two of countries who are strong candidates for the champion of Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship 2023, China and Indonesia, have not encountered any obstacles. Both of them wiped out the victory, winning 5-0 against the opposing team in the first match at the Dubai Exhibition Center on Tuesday.
China, which occupies Group A and is seeded first, beats Uzbekistan whereas Indonesia which occupies Group C and is seeded in third place, beats Lebanon. Also in Group C, Thailand followed Indonesia's lead with a perfect 5-0 win over Syria.
Interestingly, all of the three countries' wins were recorded in two straight games. Only in the first match, China's representative, Lei Lan Xi, ranked 116th, won 21-14 over Bisoliddin Kuchkarboev after previously winning 21-6 in the first game. Apart from Lei Lan Xi, all the matches were won by a score under 10.
In this match against Uzbekistan, China, which also holds the status of the defending champion, put their younger players. This may be part of their strategy to later face a tougher opponent, namely Korea. Moreover, Korea was also able to sweep the victory over Singapore. One of the surprising wins from the party was Singapore's defeat in the men's singles. The 2022 world champion, Loh Kean Yew from Lee Yun Gyu in a rubber game 21-10, 18-21, 15-21. Loh Kean Yew's opponent is still very young.
On the other hand, Indonesia won against Lebanon with a total score of 5-0. Even though the opponent they faced was far below his quality, three mainstays were fielded, namely Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the men's singles who was ranked third and the bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Then the first-ranked men's doubles now, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, and the world's eighth-ranked women's doubles Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia. In two other numbers, women's singles and mixed doubles, put their younger players. As a result, all wins were achieved with a score below 10.
