Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian women’s doubles Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu won the Group A second round of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games against Great Britain pair Chloe Birch / Lauren Smith.
In terms of ranking, Greysia / Apriyani are indeed superior since they are currently ranked sixth in the world, while Birch / Smith are in 14th place in the world.
In Monday’s match at Field 2 Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo, Japan, Greysia / Apriyani beat their opponent in two games with the final result 21-11, 21-13, as quoted on the website of the BWF.
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Since the first match, Greysia / Apriyani has dominated the match. While the resistance given by the British duo was quite weak.
After a 4-4 draw, Greysia / Apriyani’s footsteps became more fluid to accumulate points until they finally won the opener with 21-11.
In the second match, Greysia / Apriyani were able to read their opponent’s playing pattern. They found Birch / Smith’s weakness and exploited it to collect more points.
The battle this time seems easier for Greysia / Apriyani. In fact, their opponent did not even manage to equalize, until finally Greysia / Apriyani closed the match which lasted 39 minutes with a 21-13 victory.
After Birch / Smith, Greysia / Apriyani still have one last preliminary match in Group A of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will face host representative Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota on Tuesday (7/27).
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Earlier in the first knockout round, Garuda’s representative also beat Malaysian pair Chow Mei Kuan / Lee Meng Yean on Saturday (24/7) with a score of 21-14, 21-17.
Meanwhile, two Indonesian representatives completed their group stage matches namely Group C mixed doubles Praveen Jordan / Melati Daeva Oktavianti who was beaten by representatives of host Yuta Watanabe / Arisa Higashino 13-21, 10 -21.
Next up was Group A men’s doubles Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo who beat Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty with the final result 21-13, 21-12.
Then there will be an appearance of the Group D men’s doubles Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan against Aaron Chia / Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia at 17.20 WIB.
Also Read: Praveen / Melati admit they haven’t been optimal against Watanabe / Higashino
Journalist: Rr. Cornée Khairany
Editor: Fitri Supratiwi
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