Minions Will Be Wary of Han/Zhou – Men’s Doubles Preview
Given their record this year, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo will be brimming with confidence – but the presence of a certain Chinese pair might just play at the back of their minds at the HSBC…
· DEV SUKUMAR
Given their record this year, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo will be brimming with confidence – but the presence of a certain Chinese pair might just play at the back of their minds at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018.
If there was one pair that got the goat of the Minions, it was China’s Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong. The Indonesians suffered just five defeats in 67 matches this year – two of those were against the young Chinese pair who – as recently as last year – were still playing the qualifying events of the Superseries (now World Tour 500 and above).
The Minions first ran into Han/Zhou at the TOTAL BWF World Championships – which, given their stellar record going into the tournament – they were expected to win. The Chinese gave the Indonesians a startling wake up call, nearly derailing their campaign in the second round. While Gideon and Sukamuljo did overcome the Chinese belatedly, they never quite recovered from the bruising second round clash and crashed out in the quarterfinals.