Indonesia’s rising badminton talent Alwi Farhan continues fine form with Australian Open win
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Indonesia'a Alwi Farhan en route to beating Hong Kong's Jason Gunawan in the Australian Open men's singles semi-finals on June 13.
PHOTO: AFP
SYDNEY – Indonesia’s rising badminton talent Alwi Farhan notched his second title of the year after a 21-13, 21-13 win over China’s world No. 73 Dong Tianyao in the Australian Open men’s singles final on June 14.
This is the world No. 13’s second Super 500 title on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour, after the 21-year-old prevailed at his home Indonesia Masters in January, a month after winning the SEA Games gold medal.
He said on the Indonesian badminton association website that he felt “very, very happy” because he was “deeply devastated” by what happened in April at the Thomas Cup, where Indonesia failed to advance from the group stage for the first time since the men’s team competition’s inception in 1949.
“But praise be to God, I want to thank everyone who criticised me, who stood by me, and who continued to support and pray for me,” added Alwi, who had also reached the Swiss Open final and semi-finals of the Singapore Open and Thailand Masters this season.
It was also a remarkable run for 22-year-old Dong, who was making his first appearance in the main draw at this level.
He defeated veterans such as Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting, top seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong’s Angus Ng en route to the final at the Quaycentre arena at Sydney Olympic Park.
In the women’s singles final, Japan’s world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi defeated eighth-ranked Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 22-20, 21-18 for her second title in her fourth final in a row.
The three-time world champion, 29, said: “I did well in these four tournaments but I’m more satisfied by the fact I was able to perform better than the results indicate. And in the process I gained some valuable points for the (BWF) World Tour Finals.”