Indonesia eyes badminton women's doubles victory in Asian Games

JAKARTA, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Host Indonesia has set a gold medal target for the badminton women's doubles in the 18th Asian Games next year, a coach revealed here on Thursday.

The pair insisted to defend the achievement which was secured by Greysia Polii/Nitya Khrishinda Maheswari in the Asian Games 2014 in Incheon city of South Korea, head coach for the women's doubles Eng Hian said.

"Hopefully we can defend gold medal we have had amid tough competition. As a host we will give the best achievement," Eng said.

One of preparations, the coach said that by trying to pair one senior player with another junior stuttler to find the best pair.

Such move has been undertaken since months ago, Eng said in a statement.

The strategy was successful, taking an example the pair of senior player Greysia Polii and her junior Apriani Rahayu, this pair has defeated high level players and had championed Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2017 and French Open Superseries 2017, the coach said.

They have been paired for less than one year, Eng revealed.

Weeks ago this pair was included into the world women-double elite players with the tenth position, that Indonesia will rely much on this pair, the coach said.

Still, the coach said that it is required three to four other pairs to secure the gold medal target.