President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) enjoyed the All-Indonesian Men’s Doubles Final Denmark Open 2022 that brought together Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto with his seniors Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon in Odense, Denmark, on Oct 23 night.
The head of state also congratulated Fajar/Rian for bringing home the Denmark Open 2022 trophy after defeating Kevin/Marcus 21-19, 28-26.
“The match between two Indonesian men’s doubles pairs in the final round of the Denmark Open 2022 badminton championship last night was fierce. Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto finally won,” the president wrote through his official social media channels on Monday.
“Congratulations! Whoever the winner is, the winner will still be Indonesia,” the president noted while attaching a photo of Fajar/Rian and Kevin/Marcus posing together in the ceremony after the match.
Kevin/Marcus had a 17-11 lead in the first game, but the pair, nicknamed the Minions, were visibly drained by Fajar/Rian, who meticulously took advantage of the situation to turn 18-17 ahead before bagging the first game 21-19.
The Minions again led 12-6 in the second game, even on the verge of forcing a rubber game when they reached game points 20-17.
However, Fajar/Rian put up a tough fight and finally forced a deuce and managed to win the second game 28-26 while locking the Denmark Open 2022 title.
It was Fajar/Rian’s first title in a BWF World Tour – Super 750.
Unfortunately, the procession of awarding medals and handing over the trophy was dampened by negligence on the part of the Danish Open host, who called Fajar/Rian and Kevin/Marcus as the representatives of Malaysia and not Indonesia.
This may have occurred, as they both eliminated representatives from Malaysia in the semi-finals in the race to the All-Indonesian Men’s Doubles Final for the Denmark Open 2022.
The Minions knocked out world champions Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik to the finals, while Fajar/Rian paved their way to become champions after eliminating Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi in the semi-finals.
Later, the official Danish badminton federation account apologized via social media for the mispronunciation of the names of the champion and runner-up.
“To all, we sincerely apologize for the wrong announcement. Of course, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Ardianto and Marcus Gideon/Kevin Sukamujo are from INDONESIA! We know that. What happened was a human error, and I hope you can accept our apologies,” Danish badminton federation tweeted on the Twitter account @BadDK.
However, the apology failed to completely taper down the volume of irate Indonesian netizens, who kept discussing the Danish Open host’s mistakes and also dragged the world badminton federation, BWF into it.
Source: Antara News