France raised visions of an upset over Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2023 before the 2019 champions recovered to stay in the hunt for the title.
France’s gamble of playing singles specialist Alex Lanier in mixed doubles with Elsa Jacob paid off, as the scratch combination delivered the opening point beating Adrian Pratama/Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu in three close games.
“I’ve never played mixed doubles in training,” said Lanier. “I’ve only played sometimes during team matches. It was a risk, because my serve is not perfect, but it was the best option for the team.
“I feel it’s like singles but there’s more space sometimes. I feel I need to be crazy on court and not be serious, because if I’m too serious I cannot enjoy it, and it’s when I enjoy that I’m playing better in mixed doubles.”
Lanier had to return for his singles in the third match, but women’s singles compatriot Malya Hoareau, playing the second match, was unable to allow him an extended period of rest. Hoareau was dismissed in just 25 minutes by Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari, and Lanier was soon back on court needing to beat Alwi Farhan to keep alive his team’s hopes of an upset.
That was not to be, and Farhan had a surprisingly straightforward path, beating the Frenchman 21-14 21-15 to give his team the lead at 2-1.
The Indonesian women’s doubles pair of Anisanaya Kamila/Az Zahra Ditya Ramadhani shut out French hopes with a quick 21-16 21-10 result over Elsa Jacob/Camille Pognante.
“When the women’s singles (Puspitasari) won, that gave me confidence,” said Farhan. “I knew I had to win today. I know Alex Lanier, he has already starting playing the World Tour and he’s a good player, and that gave me added motivation to beat him.”
Indonesia take on Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, while China face Malaysia. The semifinals will be streamed on
BWF TV. Many other European teams will fight for other spots ahead of closing the Mixed Team event, while preparing for the Individual event which will be starting Monday, 2 October.