Last year the tournament was held in Jakarta Convention Center, but this year Istora Senayan, Jakarta is the chosen venue that will witness the born of new champions in the tournament that recently been upgraded to BWF World Tour Super-1000 level.
Something worth notable is that, since its first tournament in 1982, there are only three names on men’s singles event that have won multiple titles on this famous event, namely Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia), Ardy Wiranata (Indonesia), dan Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia).
Taufik won the title in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. Prior to Taufik, Ardy achieved the title in 1990 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1997. Lastly, Chong Wei is the latest routine winner on the last few tournaments by winning the title in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016.
Taufik and Ardy will no longer be able to break yet another record given their involvement in Badminton has come to an end. Contradictorily, Chong Wei is the only remaining candidate that may still have a chance to past Taufik and Ardy’s records as he is still actively playing for the sport he loves.
Chong Wei is confirmed to be playing in the coming Indonesia Open in the hope of grasping his seventh title for this tournament. On the first round, Chong Wei, who is currently placed on No. 7 Seed, will see an unseeded player from Hongkong, Ng Ka Long Angus. On the paper, Chong Wei can easily past Ng as from 7 of their last 8 meetings, Chong Wei has always came out as the winner.
On the second round, Chong Wei has the opportunity to see either Anders Antonsen (Denmark) or Kenta Nishimoto (Jepang). Should Chong Wei encounter Kenta on the second round, he must not underestimate Kenta given the 2-2 records between them on their last four games, Chong Wei even suffered two losses on their initial meetings.
Further ahead, should Chong Wei made it to the third round, there is a huge possibility that Chong Wei will see the No. 2 Seed from South Korea, Son Wan Ho. The records between these players are still positive for Chong Wei, where he came out as the winner in 12 of their last 15 matches.
Should Chong Wei, the third-time Olympic bronze medalist, made it to semi-final, he has the chance to see some of the world’s top players namely, Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia), Khosit Phetpradab (Thailand), Wong Wing Ki Vincent (Hongkong), Chou Tien Chen (Taiwan), Mark Caljouw (Netherland), Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia), Kento Momota (Japan), and Kidambi Srikanth (India).
Looking at the tournament bracket, it is plausible to expect more from Chong Wei. The reason is that if Chong Wei past all the hurdles to the semifinal, he will not see other elite players such as Viktor Axelsen (Denmark), Chen Long (China) or even his all-time rival, Lin Dan (China) on his way to the final as these players are playing on different brackets than Chong Wei.
Then, will Chong Wei be able to break a new record by being the only men’s singles player to grasp 7 Indonesia Open titles?
