PETALING JAYA: Who can fill the void left behind by men’s doubles pair Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya?
The 33-year-old Marcus announced his retirement from the sport earlier this month to bring an end to a glittering career.
Marcus-Kevin, who were fondly known as the “Minions” due to their small stature and speed on court, captured a whopping 30 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour and Superseries titles combined.
The dynamic pair also won the gold in the 2018 Asian Games at home in Jakarta.
Indonesia are struggling to reach similar heights in the men’s doubles since Marcus and Kevin ended their eight-year partnership last year.
Although the duo surprisingly never won a medal in the World Championships, their influence has still been greatly missed especially with the legendary pair Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan’s careers also coming to an end.
For some time, Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto looked like the answer to Indonesia’s quest to replace Marcus-Sanjaya and Ahsan-Setiawan when they enjoyed a great run in 2022, capturing four World Tour titles.
But Fajar-Rian, who rose to No. 1 in the world, went through a dip in form last year and have currently dropped to No. 7.
The pair are still Indonesia’s highest ranked pair with Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (No. 9) and Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (No. 11) closest to them in the rankings.Surprisingly, only Leo-Daniel have captured a World Tour title this year after they triumphed in their home Masters in January.
There have been some encouraging signs for Fajar-Rian and Shohibul-Bagas though after both reached the ongoing All-England quarter-finals.
Shohibul-Bagas, who captured the title in 2022, stole the show by stunning India’s world No. 1 and last week’s French Open winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 21-16, 21-15 in the second round at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Thursday.
They face Malaysia’s world No. 5 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik next for a place in the last four.
Fajar-Rian also did well to come from behind to beat Japan’s world No. 16 Akira Koga-Taichi Saito 18-21, 21-17, 21-18.
They will take on Taiwan’s reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin in the last eight.
Fajar-Rian and Shohibul-Bagas will be out to continue their good run in the prestigious tournament and prove that they are capable of filling the vacant spot left behind by their compatriots.
