There is something interesting about the third day of the badminton event entitled China Badminton Super League 2023. The Indonesian men’s doubles, Hendra Setiawan, is paired with the Chinese women’s singles, He Bingjiao.
Hendra Setiawan and his partner in the men’s doubles sector, Mohammad Ahsan, participated in the event. The Daddies, nicknamed Hendra/Ahsan, strengthened the Ruichang team. The world number three pair plays in the first two days.
However, on the third day, Wednesday (15/2/2023), Hendra and Ahsan were separated. Hendra played in the mixed doubles sector and Ahsan continued to play in the men’s doubles when. Against the Xiamen team, Ruichang made a shocking and attention-grabbing decision.
How could it not be, He Bingjiao, who is the world’s number five women’s singles, actually played in mixed doubles. The left-handed specialist is paired with Hendra, the gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, Ahsan is paired with former world number one men’s doubles, Li Junhui.
It was clear that Hendra Setiawan was very uncomfortable playing with He Bingjiao. The reason is, He Bingjiao has never had experience playing in the mixed doubles sector. Even worse, Ahsan/He Bingjiao faced the world number one mixed doubles from China, Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong. Not surprisingly, Hendra/He Bingjiao lost to three teams 4-11, 8-11, 8-11.
“I didn’t expect to meet Hendra in the mixed doubles,” said Zheng, who is the mainstay of the Xiamen team, while laughing when answering journalists’ questions after the match. “Jiaojiao (He Bingjiao) was so proactive today, I was very surprised,” Huang Yaqiong added about her compatriot’s performance.
Meanwhile He Bingjiao admitted to being very tense. She did not deny that she looked very bad in that match. “I was a bit tense today and I think I was the worst player in this match,” said He Bingjiao. Similarly, Hendra also looks a bit awkward playing. He admits that he is not very good at playing in the mixed doubles sector, even though he has appeared in international events with Russian player, Anastasia Russkikh.
“The last time I played mixed doubles was about 10 years ago. I am happy to be able to play again in mixed doubles and I have to admit I was not good at playing in this sector,” said Hendra. “Our opponents today are the world number one pair, they are very good,” added Hendra with a laugh.
From the men’s doubles sector, Ahsan/Li Junhui met world number five men’s doubles from China, Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi. Predictably, Liu/Ou won 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 over Ahsan/Li. For the record, Li was also Liu Yuchen’s tandem and earned the nickname of the Twin Towers.
