Indonesian men’s singles badminton player, Jonatan Christie, was immediately eliminated in the first round of the 2022 Malaysia Masters. His move was stopped by a Taiwanese player, Wang Tzu Wei, in a duel at Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday (6/7/2022). The figure with the nickname Jojo highlighted the referee’s performance in the match.
The 2018 Asian Games gold medal winner said the referee was unfair because he gave a decision that was detrimental to his position. “In terms of the game, I feel that everything is okay. But there are indeed some decisions of the match equipment that I feel are detrimental. The referee is a bit less firm,” said Jonatan in an official statement from PP PBSI in Jakarta.
This seventh seed recounts, for example, that the opponent was unreasonably procrastinating several times. The referee was unmoved because he never gave a warning. Not only that, some of the line judge’s decisions were also considered inaccurate.
“This makes me a little annoyed and disappointed. Actually I tried to stay focused, but yes the results were not as desired,” said Jonathan. Jonathan was eliminated in the first round of the Super 500 level tournament after going through a fierce battle of three games. In the third game that was the deciding factor, there was a chase for points. Wang finally beat Jonathan with a score of 16-21, 21-18, 27-25 after struggling for 93 minutes.
Jojo can actually control the match this time. However, several decisions by the referee made his focus disperse, especially during the final points of the game. The most controversial decision was when Jojo reached match point at 20-18. He aimed the shuttlecock to the left that Wang Tzu Wei couldn’t reach. Initially, the shuttlecock was declared in by the linesman, but then the referee corrected it to be out.
However, Jojo saw that there was a lesson behind this early defeat. He has a longer preparation for the next tournament in Singapore. “Again, whatever it is, I must remain grateful. Even though the result was not encouraging because I lost the first round, but the positive thing is that maybe I can take a break while preparing my focus and energy to fight again at the Singapore Open next week,” said Jojo.
