1. Indonesia Replicates the 2008 Indonesia Open Success
To the surprise of every one, Indonesia, as the host managed to exceed the initial target to win only one title in Blibli Indonesia Open 2018. The target was exceeded after the two Indonesian delegates from two different events reached the final round, namely Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir who eventually won the title in the mixed doubles event and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who eventually won the title in the men’s doubles event.
In fact, this success was last felt by Indonesia during the 2008 Indonesia Open. On that occasion, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, the men’s singles player and Liliyana Natsir/Vita Marissa, the women’s doubles pair managed to present the title to Indonesia.
2. Record-breaking Supporters
The number of supporters that are present in Istora during the early days of Blibli Indonesia 2018, broke the record for the most number of supporters present in the early round of the tournament, as stated by Achmad Budiharto, the Project Officer for the tournament on Monday (8/7). “The number of supporters who are present in the stadium was satisfactory and it broke the record. On the previous tournaments, usually there are only 2,000 to 3,000 supporters who come to the stadium on the early days of the tournament, while for this year there were around 4,000 supporters present at the stadium on the early stages of the tournament,” he said.
3. Chinese Men’s Singles Players are “Cursed” in Istora
Since the first organization of this tournament a few years ago, the Chinese men’s singles players have always failed to tackle the “Curse of Istora” myth, where the Chinese men’s singles players have never won any title in Istora. Likewise, this year, the Chinese team sent three delegates to Blibli Indonesia Open 2018, namely Lin Dan, Shi Yuqi, and Chen Long, however they still fail to show that they are entitled to be the champion of this event.
Moreover, Lin Dan and Chen Long failed miserably in this tournament after both players were defeated in the first round of the tournament. Meanwhile, Shi Yuqi was defeated by his opponent on the semifinal.
4. Tontowi/Liliyana Got rid of the “Curse of Istora”
In Contrast, during Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 the Indonesia’s mixed doubles pair, Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsirs finally got rid the “Curse of Istora”, where many believe that the pair will never win any Indonesia Title whenever the tournament is being played in Istora.
Prior to this year’s tournament, Tontowi/Liliyana managed to reach the final round of the 2011 and 2012 Indonesia Open that were held in Istora. On both occasions, the pair had to admit their opponent’s quality and finished second by the end of the tournaments.
Afterwards, they finally reached their third Indonesia Open final in 2017. They finally win the title in 2017, however on that occasion the tournament was not held in Istora, thus started the belief saying that Tontowi/Liliyana were cursed to never win any Indonesia Open title in Istora.
5. Indonesia Open is complimented by BWF, again
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) claimed that Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 have successfully organized a world-class badminton tournament in an entertaining way. This concurs with BWF’s goals to make Badminton known, watched and loved by the public all around the world.
“We’d like to express our appreciation to PBSI, Blibli and all the stakeholders who have worked hard in this event. It has been a long time since this tournament became one of the best, this year Blibli Indonesia Open is one step better and make badminton enjoyable to everyone,” as stated by Parks, the Event Director for BWF.
Those are some interesting facts about Blibli Indonesia Open 2018. See you in Blibli Indonesia Open 2019!
