The three mixed doubles teammates are second-seeded Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir, Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili and Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto.
The 2013 world champion teammates Tontowi Ahmad Liliyana/Natsir found no significant hurdle to outplay Japans mixed doubles shuttlers Kenichi Hayakawa/Misaki Matsutomo, 21-10, 21-17.
It was Tontowi/Liliyana Natsirs third victory against the Japanese shuttlers, having outplayed them at the BWF World Champion 2013, 21-10, 17-21, 21-19.
"When we played at the BWF World Championship 2013, the pressure was high. But now, it is different. If we play a normal game we will still be better than Hayakawa/Matsutomo. But they have made some progress now," Tontowi has been quoted on the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) executive boards website.
The Tontowi/Liliyana teammates easily won the first game at the badminton tournament, with a total prize of US$500 thousand. However, the Japanese pair took over the rhythm of the game by leading the match before losing 21-17 to the Indonesian shuttlers.
"They changed their rhythm in the second game. In the first game, they were offensive but in the second game they became defensive. We did not anticipate the change so we were left behind. Only after we could adjust to it did we gain control of the game again," he explained.
In the second round, Tontowi/Liliyana will play against Singapores mixed doubles teammate Singapura Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Yu Yan Vanessa Neo who outplayed Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong, 21-19, 19-21, 21-16.
Reporting by Hernawan Wahyudono
EDITED BY INE
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
