- Three ‘All-finals’ Matches
The final round of Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000 presented three ‘All-Finals’ matches, namely in the Women’s Doubles event, Mixed Doubles event and the Men’s Doubles event. In the Women’s Doubles event, an All-Japanese final happened between Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi. While in the Mixed Doubles event, there was an All-Chinese final match that brought Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping together. In addition to that, in the Men’s Doubles event, there was an All-Indonesian final between Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan.
Yuki/Sayaka (Japan) and Kevin/Marcus (Indonesia) managed to defend their throne in this tournament. Meanwhile, Zheng/Huang (China) has finally reached the highest podium in Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000 for the first time ever.
- Excitement in the Men’s Doubles Podium
There was an interesting moment during the rewarding session in the champion podium stage of the Men’s Doubles event of Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan brought their children to the podium. Meanwhile, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who is yet to get married and have a child seemed to feel the excitement of that moment.
During the press conference, a number of media crew immediately asks Kevin about when Kevin will be accompanied by his own children in the podium stage. “About the children, I think it’s still far ahead, I’m going to take it slow,” said Kevin while smiling.
- The Most Supporters
The Indonesian badminton supporters are known to be very fanatic. On the first day of Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000, on Tuesday (16/7), the stands in Istora Senayan, Jakarta that has the capacity of 6000 seats are already full. The tickets that were sold online through Blibli.com and Tiket.com were immediately sold out as soon as it starts selling. Moreover, the supporters who were not able to secure the ticket still came to Istora to show their supports to their idols by watching the matches live in the big screen provided by the organizers.
- The Chinese Men’s Singles ‘curse’
Since the beginning of Indonesia Open, no Chinese Men’s Singles player has ever breaks the ‘curse’ of claiming the title in Istora. As a proof, the four Chinese Men’s Singles players who are competing in Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000 are yet to be the champion in Istora. In fact, Lin Dan, Chen Long and Shi Yuqi were knocked out of the tournament in the second round. Meanwhile, Huang Yu Xiang only made it until the quarter final round of the tournament.
- ‘Batik’ and ‘Blangkon’
The organizers are highlighting the Indonesian traditional culture in the final round of Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000. The umpires who lead the match were dressed using ‘Batik’, the Indonesian traditional costumes. The umpires and the linesmen were dressed using the Javanese traditional costumes, batik complete with the ‘Blangkon’ that they wore on their head. This unique idea has become one of the main attractions of Blibli Indonesia Open 2019 BWF World Tour Super 1000 and this idea received many praises from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) committee.
“From what I see is that, here in Indonesia, badminton is very accessible to all sorts of people, the organizers have organized the tournament very well. Indonesia managed to show its culture to the world. The costumes that were worn by the umpires added a more Indonesian feel to the tournament,” said Koh Wa Cheng, the Head of Event Project of BWF.
“BIO has always been an impressive tournament; there are a lot of improvements. I have been involved in this tournament since 2011 and I always enjoy my time here. Indonesia is a very good host, the badminton fans are amazing. The event is very good in helping to promote badminton to the public,” he said.
