Indonesian top pair have one wish – to be No. 1 for a long time

Top desire: Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (back) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon in action during a practice session ahead of the Malaysian Open at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

INDONESIAN men’s doubles hotshots Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo have a simple goal – to remain as the world No. 1 pair for a very long time.

And Marcus-Kevin will be out to justify their status by defending the men’s doubles title at the Celcom Axiata Malaysian Open starting today.

The Indonesians have been in red hot form having bagged the Indonesian Masters (January), Indian Open (February) and the All- England (March) this year.

The two have been on top of the world ranking since September last year and their consistent performances have been the key to their success.

“We always keep our focus and as a men’s doubles pair, we remind ourselves of one purpose which is to become champions,” saidMarcus.

“And as professionals, we try to bring that purpose to our training and we watch what we eat. So, we hope to be the world number one for a very long time.”

And it looks like there is no stopping the pair from taking home their fourth title when they begin their campaign in the first round against world No. 14 Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han of Taiwan today.

If they win, they will likely face Malaysia’s Thomas Cuppers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the second round. The others in their half of the draw are third seeds Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan of China; fifth seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark; sixth seeds Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda of Japan; and unseeded pairs Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia and Hendra Setiawan-Mohd Ahsan of Indonesia.

Lumped together in the lower half with second seeds Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark are Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen of China and two Malaysian pairs Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin and Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen.

Marcus is also determined to keep their title but is aware of the many pairings who can jeopardise their hopes.

“All our opponents from China, Taiwan and Malaysia are tough, so we are not underestimating any of them. We just want to enjoy ourselves and not put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Said Kevin: “We are confident we can retain our title. We are optimistic but then we have to do it step-by-step.”