Uphill task for Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido to win their first All England Open title
Considering their current quivering form, it is an uphill task for Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido to win their first ever Men’s Doubles title at All England Open Premier Super Series 2012, which is in progress at Birmingham, England.
The World Number Nine Hendra and Markis, who are former World Champions and ruling Olympic gold medallists, have been working hard to find a good flow for the last one year but failed to win any major title.
Hendra and Markis have always been struggling to win a title at All England Open, the only elusive title from their legacy as they have won all major events in the world of badminton.
However, they are not in a good condition to break their All England Open Jinx this year as all top players are competing for glory at this prestigious tournament.
They have found a tough draw as they have been placed in the same half in which the top seeds and World Number One Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China are also competing.
It seems a challenging task for Hendra and Markis to overcome their Chinese opponents who are at their peak at the moment.
Both shuttlers know that it is difficult to win this tournament as they are not at their best and to play against all top shuttlers in the world requires a consistent performance.
Hendra said, “Markis and I have won the Olympic, World Championships and Asian Games gold but we never could do it in the All-England. We either struggle to beat our opponents or mess it up by playing badly.”
The 28-year-old Hendra has also participated in Mixed Doubles event by partnering with Vita Marissa.
They won their first match in qualifying round contest yesterday and will play in the main round today.
Hendra added, “We played together for the first time at the German Open but just managed to last until the second round (losing to eventual German Open champions Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark).”
However, in Men’s Doubles category, Hendra and Markis are not in good shape and do not have strong chance to win the title on paper as they need to display extraordinary performance in all matches to prove their worth which is quite challenging.
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