The main reason is obvious in the sector, the first seed is filled by Red and White team representative, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo who are currently ranked number one in the world.
The pair will be one of the Indonesia's expectations, aside from the mixed doubles sector, to win the title at home. It has been considered normal since the beginning 2017 as they were able to achieve success in three major tournaments, All England Open (Superseries Premier), India Open (Superseries), and Malaysia Open (Superseries Premier).
Based on the form the previous appearances to the last event; Sudirman Cup 2017, this pair remains stable in their performance. However, only in the 1D group stage when Indonesia met Denmark, did Marcus / Kevin fail to contribute points after losing to Danish pair Mathias Boe /Carsten Mogensen. But the defeat does not mean their performance is declining. Evidently, the fight was tight for three games resulting the defeat of Marcus / Kevin 21-16, 22-24 and 21-23.
The defeat became the second in 2017 for Marcus / Kevin and the defeat was caused by the same opponents, Boe / Mogensen. Previously, the world’s number two halted Marcus / Kevin’s journey to the final round of the Singapore Open (Superseries) 2017, after Marcus / Kevin surrendered 21-11, 11-21 and 14-21 by Boe / Mogensen in the semifinals. In 2017 BIO, this doubles has chance to encounter in the final match.
Marcus/Kevin’s journey at BIO 2017 first round will start by taking on another Danish pair, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmunssen. They have met twice and Marcus/Kevin won the two matches.
If qualified to the second round, Marcus/Kevin have the chance to face Chinese pair, Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan. Marcus/Kevin are slightly superior to the Chinese pair 1-0. However, the Chinese pair is not average, it is still a potential threat.
A pretty heavy hurdle will be faced by Marcus / Kevin if they are qualified to the quarter final. Both are likely to meet sixth-seeded Japanese, Takeshi Kamura / Keigo Sonoda. The record of the two pairs is currently a square 2-2, and the last victory was achieved by Marcus/Kevin at the Malaysia Open 2017.
Moreover, if Marcus/Kevin can survive until semifinal, two Chinese pairs such as the third seeded Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen or fifth seeded Chai Biao/Hong Wei are predicted to be Marcus/Kevin opponents in semifinal. Marcus/Kevin leads 2-1 from Li/Liu while with Cnai/Wei, Marcus/Kevin comfortably leads 3-1.
Unlike Marcus / Kevin who must face from other countries in upper pools, four other Indonesian men's doubles pair who have been confirmed into the main round are gathering in the lower pool and they will struggle to be the best, they are Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Ricky Karandasuwardi / Angga Pratama, Hendra Aprida Gunawan/Markis Kido, and Berry Angriawan / Hardianto.
While other six Indonesia’s men’s doubles pairs who will fight from the qualifying round are Andrei Adistia/Agripinna Prima Rahmanto Putra, Lukhi Apri Nugroho/Tedi Supriadi, Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira/Ade Yusuf Santoso, Kenas Adi Haryanto/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Frengky Wijaya Putra, and Mohammad Ahsan, Rian Agung Saputro, and one pair with different nationality composition, Hendra Setiawan (IND) and Tan Boon Heong (Malaysia).
Keep supporting Indonesian athletes who will fight at BCA Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2017 battles!
