Source: Visual China Group /Fu Tian/China News Service/VCG
[Saba Sports News] The draw results for the badminton group stage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games were released, which immediately sparked dissatisfaction among Indonesian fans. The reason is simple: Indonesian star Jonatan Christie has more matches scheduled than others. Jonatan, the No. 3 seed in this competition, is placed in the lower half of the men’s singles in Group L. The same group includes Lakshya Sen, Kevin Cordon, and Julien Carraggi. According to the schedule, Jonatan needs to play three group matches first. If he advances to the top 16, he will compete with Hassena Sunil Kumar Prannoy, Le Duc Phat, and Fabian Roth from Group K. The top spot competes for a place in the quarterfinals. In total, Jonatan needs to play four games if he wants to qualify for the quarterfinals. On the other hand, the No. 4 seed Anders Antonsen was placed in Group E with Ade Resky Dwicathyo and Collins Valentine Filimon. Since there are only three players, only two games need to be played. After advancing to the top 16, since Group F had a bye, they were directly shortlisted for the quarterfinals. Antonsen has a chance to advance to the quarterfinals after playing only two games. As the same seed player, Jonatan was ranked higher than Antonsen, but the schedule was completely different. He played two more games than the 4th seed and even played one more game than the 5th to 13th seeds. This unequal treatment is unfair. It is worth mentioning that Jonatan is the first No. 3 seed in the history of the Olympics to not receive a bye, as players such as Lin Dan, Li Xuerui in 2016, and this year’s TAI Tzu-Ying, who were also No. 3 seeds, all received byes. Due to the unfair treatment of Jonatan, the Indonesian Badminton Association issued a statement condemning the Badminton World Federation.