This year, Tontowi/Liliyana have the chance to repeat last year’s success on Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 that will be held from 3 to 8 July 2018.
The rise of young mixed doubles pairs will certainly restrain Tontowi/Liliyana’s steps to defend the title easily. On the latest Badminton Asia Championships 2018, Tontowi/Lilyana’s step was stopped by Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, the young mixed doubles pair who currently sits at the world’s No. 2 rank.
Furthermore, on the final match of Daihatsu Indonesia Masters 2018, Tontowi/Lliyana was stopped by yet another young Chinese mixed double pair, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong.
Other than the two Chinese pairs, Tang Chung Man/Tse Ying Suet, the Hong Kong mixed double pair, will also be a tough enemy for Tontowi/Liliyaa. The record between these two pairs draws at 1-1. Tang/Tse won the last match between these two pairs during the semifinal of Denmark Open Super Series Premier 2017 with the score of 21-16, 21-18.
From the neighboring country, Malaysia, three mixed doubles pairs are set to play for the tournament.
One of them is the champion of German Open 2018, Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai. In addition to that, there are the Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, the world’s No. 11 pair and Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying, the Rio de Janeiro 2016 silver medalist who just recovered from a long injury.
Furthermore, Indonesian mixed double pairs must also be aware of Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock and Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen, the European pairs that have always create surprises to elite players.
Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 will be an important tournament for Tontowi/Liliyana. The reason is that the tournament will be the pre-event for the coming Asian Games 2018 that will be held in August in Istora.
Indonesian mixed doubles team is sending all the best pairs to the tournament, not only Tontowi/Liliyana, there are a couple other Pelatnas’ best pairs are playing in Istora namely, Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti, Hafiz Faisal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja, Ricky Karanda Suwardi/Debby Susanto, Ronald Alexander/Annisa Saufika, Yantoni Edy Saputra/Marsheilla Gischa Islami, and also the senior pair, Riky Widianto/Masita Mahmudin.
