Manila: World No. 5 and No. 1 seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia had to bury their hopes of winning a medal from the 2019 SEA Games men’s doubles event when they couldn’t get past Thailand pair Bodin Isara/Maneepong Jongjit, losing 16-21, 21-23 in 34 minutes.
Alfian/Ardianto actually met Isara/Jongjit in the 2019 SEA Games men’s team event on December 2, where the Indonesians had to dig deep before beating Isara/Jongjit 22-20, 19-21, 21-17.
“Of course we’re very disappointed. We apologize for not being able to contribute a medal to Indonesian fans,” said Ardianto.
“They played well today, we made a lot of mistakes ourselves and they kept pressing on us,” said Alfian.
“They play better. The wind was strong here, we were hurried to kill the shuttlecock even when the shuttlecock was moving irregularly,” added Alfian.
At the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia Alfian/Ardianto managed to win the men’s team gold medal and bronze medal in men’s doubles event. But this time they had to settle only for the gold medal from the men’s team event.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s World No. 12 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik came through their first serious test at the 2019 SEA Games individual event as they subdued some fierce resistance from Terry Hee Yong Kai/Loh Kean Hean 21-19, 21-19 to set up a semi-final match against No. 4 seeds Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira/Ade Yusuf Santoso of Indonesia.
Another Malaysian men’s pair, the No. 3 seeds Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi came back from dropping the first set to beat local shuttlers Peter Gabriel Magnaye/Alvin Morada 19-21, 21-12, 21-11.
Ong/Teo will meet Bodin Isara/Maneepong Jongjit of Thailand in the last four.
