PETALING JAYA: Indonesian men’s doubles shuttlers Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (pic) have an opportunity to step out of legendary duo Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan’s shadows after qualifying for their maiden Olympics in Paris.
Fajar, 29 and Rian, 28 have surprisingly never made the cut for the Olympics before although they have been playing at the highest level for many years.
The tough competition in the Indonesian men’s doubles department meant that the skilful duo missed out on the 2021 Tokyo Games after finishing behind both Ahsan-Hendra and Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya in qualifying.
Now Fajar-Rian, who have established themselves as Indonesia’s No. 1 men’s doubles pair ahead of both their teammates, will be making their long awaited appearance on the grandest sporting stage and will be their country’s sole representatives in the event after teammates Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana narrowly missed the cut.
Fajar-Rian now have a chance to end Indonesia’s 16-year wait for an Olympic medal in the men’s doubles since Hendra captured gold in the 2008 Beijing Games with former partner Markis Kido.
Even the legendary Hendra could not win another medal with Ahsan after his feat with Markis.
In 2021, three-time world champions Hendra-Ahsan were denied a bronze by Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who stunned the former in the bronze medal playoff match.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were making their debuts that time, also broke Indonesian hearts when they toppled Marcus-Kevin, then the top seeds, in the last eight.
Fajar-Rian know that it will not be easy to step into their seniors’ shoes but are ready to take on the responsibility.
“Indonesia always have top men’s doubles pairs and we know we need to step up and take over from our seniors like Hendra-Ahsan and Marcus-Kevin,” said Fajar.
“It is definitely not easy because of what they have achieved but we are ready for this challenge.”
Fajar-Rian do have a good record in major events after they won silver in the 2018 Asian Games and bronze twice in the 2019 and 2022 World Championships.
The pair’s best achievements this year were capturing their second All-England title in March and finishing runners-up in the Singapore Open last month.
Fajar-Rian are not one of the favourites in Paris but have proven before that they are more than capable of rising to the occasion.
The duo have been drawn in a favourable-looking Group C along along with India’s Hangzhou Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel and Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar of France.
The top two pairs in the group will progress to the quarter-finals.
The badminton competition in the Olympics starts on Saturday at the Adidas Arena in Porte de la Chapelle.
