Badminton's Hendra - Ahsan Sets Eye on 2020 Tokyo Olympics
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28 August 2019 08:01 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Fresh after winning the gold medal in the 2019 BWF Championships in Switzerland, Indonesia’s badminton men’s double Ahsan – Hendra Setiawan are now eyeing on to qualify the 2020 Summer Tokyo Olympics.
The pair who also took gold medals in 2019 All England defeated Japan’s Takuro Hoki - Yugo Kobayashi in a battle with its final score of 25-23, 9-21, 21-15. Their win also boosted their BWF world ranking to the second spot.
In their press conference at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Tuesday night, Hendra expressed hope to face the Olympics qualification with Ahsan. Both men were once separated following a lackluster result in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“We are still eyeing on that. The preparation hasn’t been done but the main goal is to qualify,” said Hendra.
Hendra now equals the record of four gold medals of China’s Cai Yun - Fu Haifeng as badminton’s men’s double with the most world titles. One of Hendra’s title was when he partnered with Markis Kido back in 2007.
Meanwhile, Ahsan currently has three gold medals to his name, all of which were won with Hendra as his partner in 2013, 2015, and 2019. “There is still a long journey. The young ones are also really competitive. We will prepare ourselves to face that situation,” said Ahsan in regards to the 2020 Olympics.
ANTARA
