Indonesia’s men’s doubles pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri kept alive their hopes of winning their first-ever BWF World Tour Super 1000 title after advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2026 China Open.
The second seeds defeated Japan’s Takumi Nomura and Yuichi Shimogami in straight games, 21-19, 21-11, at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
The victory leaves Fajar and Fikri as Indonesia’s only remaining representatives in the men’s doubles competition.
The country’s other two pairs, Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, as well as Raymond Indra and Nikolaus Joaquin, were eliminated in the second round.
Despite securing a straight-games victory, Fajar admitted the match was far from easy.
In addition to once again dealing with windy court conditions, he and Fikri also had to adapt to a playing court with characteristics that differed significantly from the one they competed on the previous day.
“The conditions on Court 1 were very different from Court 2 yesterday. The wind direction here was really strong,” he said.
In the quarterfinals, they will face South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju, who advanced after defeating Japan’s eighth-seeded pair Hoki Takuro and Yugo Kobayashi in a three-game battle.
The upcoming match will mark the second meeting between the two pairs. In their first encounter at the 2026 Badminton Asia Championships, Fajar and Fikri were defeated in three games.
Meanwhile, Sabar and Reza were once again forced to acknowledge the superiority of England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, losing 18-21, 12-21.
According to Sabar, their opponents’ more disciplined play and better ability to adapt to the windy court conditions proved to be the deciding factors.
Like their senior compatriots, Raymond and Joaquin were also unable to progress further after losing to China’s seventh-seeded duo Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 13-21, 17-21.
Women’s Doubles
The impressive run of Indonesia’s women’s doubles pair Rachel Allessya Rose and Febi Setianingrum at this BWF Super 1000 tournament continued.
They achieved their target of reaching the quarterfinals after defeating the United States pair Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee 17-21, 21-11, 21-19.
After dropping the opening game and trailing by a considerable margin at the interval of the deciding game, the Indonesian pair staged a remarkable comeback to secure the victory.
“Thank God we finished the match without any injuries. We just prayed and tried to keep the shuttle in play while avoiding unforced errors. We were trailing by quite a lot at the third-game interval, but we kept fighting,” Rachel said.
Looking ahead to the quarterfinals, Rachel emphasized that their focus remains on securing another victory.
However, she believes the lessons learned from their match against the American pair will be valuable preparation, especially considering that their next opponents will be China’s eighth-seeded duo Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min.***
