Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti struggled in their first Olympic match against Australian pair Simon Wing Hang Leung and Gronya Somerville in what should have been an easy win for the Indonesians.
In the first game, they lost 8 consecutive points at game point 20-14 and threw away the game 20-22. In the second game as well, Jordan and Oktavianti were again under tremendous pressure as they were trailing 14-11 at one point. They however managed to find their touch to win the match 20-22, 21-17, 21-13.
Oktavianti told PBSI media, “We were leading 20-14 and then the tables turned because I was nervous, I didn’t pay enough attention and then finally panicked when they were on the same score as us.
“Luckily we slowly came back. The key was constant communication with Jordan and I continued to encourage myself. A lot of self-talking and shouting. Thank God we won.”
