Adaptation Not Optimal, Sabar/Reza Left Out

Jakarta, Todaysgist – Indonesian men’s doubles pair Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani revealed that less than optimal adaptation to the field was the cause of their defeat in the last 32 of the 2024 China Open, Thursday (18/9/2024).

Playing at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Changzou, China, Sabar/Reza surrendered to Fang Chih Lee/Fang Jen Lee from Taiwan with a score of 16-21 and 16-21. They surrendered after fighting for 35 minutes.

Fang/Fang will meet Malaysian representatives Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi who defeated Lee Jhe Huei/Yang Po Hsuan with a score of 13-21, 21-16, and 21-15.

Sabar admitted that his opponent was indeed better prepared in the early round match of the BWF Super 1000 tournament. “The result was not as we expected, quite disappointing, but we tried our best. It must be admitted that the opponent played better prepared today,” said Sabar.

According to the Sumedang-born player, the lack of adjustment was one of the factors that caused him and Reza not to perform optimally.

Meanwhile, according to Reza, his physical condition after advancing to the Hong Kong Open final, Sunday (15/9/2024), has declined significantly. “Our recovery is also not good because there are several non-technical factors. One of them is that our flight was canceled by the airline which was supposed to fly on Monday (16/9/2024) afternoon,” he said.

He and Sabar finally had to find another route and only arrived at the China Open match location on Tuesday (17/9/2024) yesterday morning.

“This is a lesson for us going forward, we have to be more prepared in all situations. There is still the Macau Open next week, so we will immediately focus on preparing ourselves for there,” he said.