Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in action against Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi at the World Championships. - AFP
PETALING JAYA: Badminton powerhouse Indonesia suffered a disappointing outing in the men's doubles in the World Championships after no men doubles pairs made it into the quarter-finals.
Indonesia boasts a formidable record in the men's doubles in the prestigious meet, having captured 10 titles, which is the highest among all countries in 28 editions of the world meet.
This time though, there will be no 11th title after world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and world No. 10 Leo Rolly-Bagas Maulana went down in the third round on Thursday a day after Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza (No. 8) lost in the second round in Paris.
Fajar-Rian fought hard but could not overcome Japan's 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, losing 21-13, 11-21, 17-21 at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.
Leo-Bagas also started strongly against South Korea's world No. 1 Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae and took the first game 21-17 but their hopes of causing an upset were dashed after the Koreans completely outplayed them in the next two games, winning comprehensively 21-9, 21-4.
Sabar-Moh put up a better fight against Denmark's world No. 21 Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard but ended up going down narrowly 18-21, 21-18, 24-26.
The last time Indonesia failed to have at least a pair in the last eight was in the 2009 edition in Hyderabad.
In 2021, no Indonesian pairs also reached the quarter-finals but this was after their withdrawal from the competition due to safety concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former Indonesian legend and four-time world champion Hendra Setiawan, who currently guides Sabar-Moh said that his charges still need to improve on their consistency in the increasingly competitive men's doubles.
"Sabar-Moh's form is still up and down. This is understandable as it's quite difficult to be stable nowadays as the men's doubles is very competitive," said Hendra in an interview posted in the Indonesian National Badminton Association (PBSI) website.
"They also need to have more self-belief. Sometimes, they can be shaky mentally although they have the ability to reach finals in tournaments."
Hendra famously captured the world title once with Markis Kido in 2007 and thrice with Mohd Ahsan in 2013, 2015 and 2019.
Indonesia currently look a long way from the 41-year-old's glory days.
The poor showing this time does not come as a huge shock as Indonesia have struggled in the men's doubles this year.
Fajar-Rian, Sabar-Moh and Leo-Bagas have not won a title together so far this year.
Fajar's sole success came when he combined with Shohibul Fikri to capture the China Open crown last month.
