Jawa Pos officially announces the birth of this new partnership, which will be under the charge of Sigit Pamungkas. We shall see how this new doubles pair fare hopefully in early January, with the beginning of the new season in the Proton Malaysia and Yonex Korea Super Series 2009. The notational ranking for the pair should be in the top 20, which means they will be spared of qualifying for the main draw, but, if they are unlucky, they will face a top pair immediately in the first round. I will set them QF targets for both tourneys.
This is not new double pair, old pair who come back after splitted a looong time ago. In early the pair combination was Alvent/Hendra A.G. Luluk/Imam Sodikin Actually Alvent/Hendra's performances wasn't bad, never lost in early round through to SF or QF. Luluk/Imam didn't break any good result yet and PBSI wanted best combination of them. After Luluk break 1st title (with Sigit Budiarto), Luluk was paired with Alvent. Surprisely they had very good result also ever as world#1.
This pair has performed way beyond my expectation in the Malaysia Super Series, with a runner-up position and pushing the current in-form pair Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae to rubber-set. Alvent/AG should be able to reach R16 of Korea SS, where they will meet Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah. Winning that match, they should be meeting Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan for a rematch in the QF. If they do triumph again, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen will likely be their opponent for a place in another Final.
I was also astonished with their performance shown in the 1st game. But soon I came to know that they were just tired out by a number of jump smashes and fast movement to cope with the never-ending defense from KOR. From 2nd set, once the KOR team started to do some net plays not giving them highs, they just collapsed giving up the game. IMO, both of them are very tall in very good shape and have good attacking skills but still have weakness in control plays. Once the KOR duo came to learn their strength/weakness they became to be very easy opponent. But still they showed great performance to win over MK/HS.
ALVENT/HENDRA did not train much prior to this tournament. The past 2 months the PBSI's training center is almost non existent, due to the new leader was not elected yet. So a runner up finish is really very good. Another fact is that for MAS SS and KOR SS, they are paying for their own expenses with a 'very' little last minute contribution from YONEX. Thats why they are still wearing YONEX.
It should be interesting to follow them.. ..yeah, a pretty surprising and nice start to their 2009 campaign. However, their success could be partly attributed to their new partnership, which most if not all of the other pairs haven't seen. If i remember, Luluk and Alvent started out like gangbusters when they first started their partnership campaign (went as high as top 3 or 5 ranking in MD). But time sure showed their real identity. IF this new pair can stay consistent in their finishing (around QF or SF round) of tourneys, at least for 3/4 of the yr or the whole yr, they could definitely be a force to be reckoned with.
I hope that the final new entry in the Malaysia SS can survive and continue to enter the final tournament selanjut it. And while the strength of the team Indonesia ....
Well, its no easy task for anyone pairing up with Luluk. I do think Hendra/Alvent is stronger than Joko/Rendra, but whether they're better than Rian/Yoke or Bona/Ahsan....I'm witholding judgement on that. 2009 should be an interesting year for INA's MD. If everything progressing smoothly, MK/HS should have a couple of INA's MD accompanying them in the Top 10.
we must have other good pairs to back up MK/HS.. it's promising, since they can go until Mo '09 final, and also beat MK/HS..
well,good job for a new pair of Indonesia I think they just make a new step for the future and maybe they can be the next MK/HS because we need a pair that can we compare to MK/HS good luck for the next step!
Hendra Aprida Gunawan/Alvent Yulianto Chandra won their first title, the Candra Wijaya Men's Doubles Badminton Championships, after beating Luluk Hadiyanto/Rendra Wijaya in straight-sets 21-9, 21-11. They also beat Pelatnas no 4 pair Fernando Kurniawan/Lingga Lie in the SF. Edo/Lingga won the bronze themselves after defeating Hendri Kurniawan Saputra/Hendra Wijaya in 3 tight-sets: 14-21, 21-17, 21-18. So, AG/Alvent won Rp 50m and for sure, they will continue to rise up the ranking table, currently placed at no 42 with just 5 tourneys. I will expect them to compete in: JUNE Aviva Open Singapore SS 2009 Djarum Indonesia SS 2009 Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open GP Gold 2009 or Bingo Bonanza Philippiines Open GP Gold 2009 AUG Macau Open GP Gold 2009 Yonex Chinese-Taipei GP Gold 2009 SEP Li Ning China Masters SS 2009 Yonex Open Japan SS 2009 In 10 tourneys, they should rise up to at least top 20.