Kim Her: Indonesia’s men’s doubles pair not a threat in London

ndonesia have traditionally been the powerhouse in men’s doubles since badminton was included as a medal sport in the Olympics 20 years ago.
Since Barcelona 1992, Indonesia have won three of the men’s doubles gold medals in the last five editions of the Games.
Ricky Subagja-Rexy Mainaky were champions at Atlanta 1996, Tony Gunawan-Chandra Wijaya won at Sydney 2000 and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan took the honours in Beijing 2008.

Progressing well: Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat (left) and Tan Boon Heong have shown tremendous improvement in their preparations for the Olympics.

Only the South Koreans have rivalled them, with Kim Moon-soo-Park Joo-bong winning in 1992 and Ha Tae-kwon-Kim Dong-moon at Athens 2004.
For all the doubles talent that Malaysia possess, the closest they ever came to winning gold was when Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock lost in the 1996 final against Ricky-Rexy.
This year, however, Indonesia will only have one representative in men’s doubles – Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano. For the first time in the history of the Games, the defending champions, Markis-Hendra, will not be there as they failed to qualify.
Given Indonesia’s track record, there will be huge expectation on Ahsan-Bona to keep the flag flying. And the world No. 6 pair will surely be fired up for the challenge.
Ahsan-Bona, however, are not in the best of form and have suffered several defeats to lower ranked opponents this year, most notably in the Indonesian Open where they lost in the first round to Malaysia’s Hoon Thien How-Tan Wee Kiong.
National doubles coach Tan Kim Her is not too impressed with the duo either and believes that they are too erratic to mount a serious challenge.
“Ahsan-Bona are a good pair but they aren’t very consistent. It’s common knowledge that they will be split up after the Olympics,” said Kim Her.
“They aren’t performing too well and I don’t think they will be the biggest threat in London. It’s the top four pairs from China, South Korea and Denmark that we have to worry about.
“Since the Indonesian Open last month, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong have been progressing very well in training and there has been a lot of change in their game.
“Kien Keat is now moving a lot faster and mixing up his game and I believe that our duo will have the edge if they meet Ahsan-Bona.”
That being said, Ahsan-Bona have a better head-to-head record against Kien Keat-Boon Heong – 3-2, with the Indonesians winning their last three encounters.
Courtesy of The Star