PETALING JAYA: It was joy for Indonesian shuttlers Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri after the duo grabbed the last spot in the men’s doubles for the World Tour Finals from Dec 17-21 in Hangzhou.
Fajar-Shohibul, who only combined in July, confirmed their place in the prestigious season-ender after overcoming teammates Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 at the Sydney Olympic Park yesterday to reach the Australian Open final.
The hard-fought victory meant that the former have overtaken Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Kittinupong Kedren in the Race to Finals rankings.
Only the top eight pairs in the Race to Finals rankings can make the cut.
Fajar-Shohubil were thrilled to clinch a spot for Hangzhou.
“Thank God, we have managed to reach the final and also qualify for the Tour Finals,” said Fajar in an interview posted in the Indonesian National Badminton Association (PBSI) website.
“We never set any specific targets when we started playing together. It feels extraordinary to make it.”
The other pairs who have qualified are South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, Sabar-Moh and Taiwan’s Wang Chi-lin-Chiu Hsiang-chieh.
Fajar-Shohibul have clicked instantly since forming their partnership five months ago, capturing the China Open title and finishing runners-up in the Opens in Denmark, France and Korea.
The world No. 13 duo will be keen to clinch their second title together when they take on younger teammates Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin in the final in Australia today.
Raymond-Nikolaus, who are currently ranked No. 32 in the world, will be playing in their first World Tour Super 500 final.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka claimed the last spot in the men’s singles in the Tour Finals.
Naraoka faced a nervous wait to see if he could qualify after going down to India’s Ayush Shetty in the Australian Open second round.
The Japanese though will be relieved after his competitor for the final berth in Hangzhou, Taiwanese Lin Chun-yi lost out 18-21, 15-21 to Yushi Tanaka in the semi-final yesterday.
Chun-yi needed to win the title to make it to the Tour Finals and deny Naraoka but could not find a way past the latter’s teammate.
World No. 26 Tanaka will face India’s world No. 14 Lakshya Sen in the title match.
Lakshya came from behind to beat Taiwan’s world No. 6 Chou Tien-chen 17-21, 24-22, 21-16 in the other last-four match.
In the Tour Finals, Naraoka will join China’s Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng, Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, Frenchman Christo Popov, Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and Tien-chen.
