Semifinal Ticket, Indonesia Ticket to Sudirman Cup

QINGDAO, FRIDAY—In a competition between fellow reserve players brought by almost all participants in the Asian Badminton Mixed Team Championship, Indonesia has qualified for the semifinals. After qualifying for the Sudirman Cup through the semifinal ticket, the “Red and White” squad will try to qualify for the final for the first time.

The Asian Championships in Qingdao, China, from February 11-16, is one of the continental team championships as a qualifier for the Sudirman Cup which will be held in Xiamen, China, from April 27-May 4. Similar events in the European, African, Oceanian and Pan American zones are held in the same week with different numbers of teams eligible to compete in Xiamen.

Along with China, which automatically became a participant due to its status as host and defending champion, the Sudirman Cup participants consisted of 16 teams. Although it was confirmed that they would compete in the Sudirman Cup, China still participated in the Asian Championship and they qualified for the semifinals after defeating Hong Kong 3-2.

The hosts are bolstered by Olympic gold medalists Chen Yu Fei in women's singles and Chen Qing Chen (women's doubles), but they have brought in more young players. There are nine players aged 21 and under, including men's singles Hu Zhe An (18) and Xu Wen Jing (women's singles/17). Both are 2024 world junior champions.

In addition to Indonesia, which beat Taiwan 3-0 in the quarter-finals on Friday (2/14/2025), other teams that advanced to the semifinals and also secured a place in the Sudirman Cup were Japan and Thailand. Both won the quarter-finals in different ways. Japan won three consecutive matches, while Thailand beat South Korea 3-2 in a tight competition in each match.

Except for the mixed doubles, which South Korea won in two games, the other four matches lasted three games each, lasting more than an hour. The women's doubles, which was the deciding factor after Thailand and South Korea tied 2-2, even lasted an hour and 24 minutes with a score of 18-21, 21-13, 23-21 for Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard over Jeong Na-eun/Lee Yeon-woo.

Europe, which also has four spots, had qualified Denmark and France as of Friday night. The Oceania zone is represented by Australia, while Algeria qualified from the African competition. In addition to the teams that qualified through continental championships, there will be four other teams that can appear in the Sudirman Cup because they have the best world ranking.

In the 2023 Sudirman Cup, Indonesia qualified based on their position in the team rankings because they failed to reach the semifinals of the Asian Championship. Since the event was held in 2017 every odd year, except in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the “Red and White” have only qualified for the semifinals once, in 2019.

In three other events, Indonesia lost in the quarterfinals, including in 2023 when it was strengthened by senior players, such as Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. At that time, Indonesia lost 1-3 to South Korea.

The semifinal ticket in Qingdao was obtained from winning three straight matches through Dejan Ferdinansyah/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, Alwi Farhan, and Putri Kusuma Wardani. Because the competition has entered the knockout phase, other matches are not played when one team has won three matches.

After repeating the steps in 2019, now, the challenge for Fadia and friends is to appear in the final for the first time. Despite winning the quarter-finals in three consecutive matches, Indonesia must be wary of Thailand because this team is strengthened by senior players.

The team was ahead, so I could play freely. The support of my friends behind me was also very helpful.

The number that should have been Indonesia's is the men's doubles through Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Daniel Marthin who will face Peeratchai Sukphun/Pakkapon Teeraratsakul. However, this number will only be played in the fourth match after other Indonesian representatives will face tough challenges.

In the opening match, Dejan/Fadia were again trusted to play against Supak Jomkoh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, followed by Alwi who will face Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul. The two men's singles had faced each other in their junior days.

In the women's singles, Putri will face Busanan Ongbamrungphan. The Thai athlete ranked 12th in the world has always won over Putri in three meetings.

If the match continues until the fifth match, Fadia will play again, this time with Lanny Tria Mayasari to fight the Aimsaard brothers.

When Indonesia played against Taiwan, Alwi contributed points after defeating Lee Chia Hao with a score of 21-16, 21-23, 21-11. Alwi said that his confidence when entering the field increased thanks to the victory obtained by Dejan/Fadia in the first match.

In addition, Alwi tried to focus on giving his best despite being 1-3 behind in the previous meeting with Lee in the 2022-2024 period. Three of the four meetings took place in three games.

"The previous meeting scores were always close. So, I feel, our chances in every meeting are the same. However, I don't think too much about the head to head, I learn to focus on contributing points for Indonesia," said Alwi.

At 19 and Indonesia's number four men's singles player in the world rankings, Alwi played the first men's singles role in the team in Qingdao. The other representative in this category is Yohanes Saut Marcellyno who is two years older than Alwi.

The confidence of the Indonesian team when playing against Taiwan was partly influenced by the victory in the first match obtained by Dejan/Fadia. The two players who were only paired in 2025, after Dejan was called by PP PBSI to become a member of the national training center, won over the world's seventh-ranked mixed doubles, Yang Po Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang, 16-21, 21-16, 21-19.

The match was like a war of nerves, especially in the third game when the score difference between the two pairs was often one to two points, including towards the end of the match. In addition, several moments became drama in the match, such as when Fadia received a yellow card from the referee because she was considered to have slowed down the game while fixing her shoelaces on the field.

Yang and Dejan, too, got a warning when they both shouted in unison when Yang was about to serve. Apart from that, Indonesia wasted the first match point opportunity at 20-18 due to a service error from Dejan. So, when the match ended in the 58th minute, the tension felt by Dejan and Fadia was released.

"There is tension and burden because when playing as a team, the result of the first match can be decisive for the team. However, when on the field, we try to forget about that," Dejan commented.

After Alwi won the second match, Indonesia got the third victory after Putri defeated Sung Shuo Yun 21-8, 21-15. Putri also said that she was calmer and more confident when competing because Indonesia was in a superior position.

"The team was ahead, so I could play freely. The support of my friends behind me was also very helpful," said the women's singles mainstay when Indonesia was without Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.