Indonesia Masters 2025 Men’s Doubles preview and predictions

The BWF World tour keeps on rolling. Lets not forget last weeks India Open. Our pick of local favourite Rankireddy and Shetty did not go to plan as they lost a tight semifinal to third seed Malaysian Meastros Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin. They claimed the title with a ruthless showing in the final. Won Ho KIM and Seong Jae SEO, who claimed the Malaysia open title the week before, were second best on the day losing to the focused Malaysians 21-15 13-21 21-16.

The hard hitters of badminton are now destined for Jakarta to compete in the Indonesia Masters 2025.

Mee the Qualifiers at the Indonesia Masters 2025

As with all 500 tournaments qualifying provides lower ranked players an opportunity to earn a place in the main draw. This is super important to help less established players to progress in the rankings, earn money and test themselves against the very best. Many will say qualifying is boring or not needed. We disagree! More stories and more opportunity is great!

Indonesians INDRA and RINDORINDO came out on top in a close game with Kang and Tai of Malaysia. The local pair are ranked at 78 in the world and did well in lower level tournametns last season. They reached 3 finals last season including the Indonesia Masters in November. This would suggest they are trending in the right direction. Could they go further? It’s unlikely. This is the first tournament above a 100 they have competed plus their R32 match is against a strong and expereinced thai pair. Good experience for them though.

Lim and Wong of Malaysia came through their match against Thai pair Charoenkitamorin and Thongsa-Nga. The world ranked 64 pair had an easy time of it controlling the match well. The Malaysians only reached one final in 2024 at Challenge level, this would indicate they are off the pace of the other tour palyers. It also looks very bleak with home town stars Alfian and Ardianto waiting in the R32. A definite loss in our book.

Are these Japanese pairs dangerous?

Two Japanese pairs were able to crush the hopes of two german pairs in the other match ups. Midorikawa and Yamashita are ranked 132 in the world. This isn’t the whole story though as Midorikawa is ranked 12th in mixed doubles with Natsu Saito. Yamashita has not had the same success, Yet! They are through to the R32 against Huang and Liu of China ranked 73 in the world. This is a great opportunity for the japanese pair to gain some huge points utilising Midorikawa’s experience. We can see them get to the R16 in Jakarta.

Their compatriots Shibata and Yamada are ranked 70 in the world. They easily progressed against the German pair Geiss and Voelker. They are drawn against a very strong Taipei pair, Fang-Chih LEE and Fang-Jen LEE. In our estimation this will be too much for the Japanese pair who will lose out at the R32.

Will the Seeds win the title?

In Jakarta we are missing the top 3 ranked pairs in the world. This makes Indonesian pair Alfian and Ardianto the top seeds for the tournament. They are followed by Chia and Soh of Malaysia, 5th ranked in the world. Unfortuantely there are more ommissions behind them meaning 6 of the top 10 are out of the event, surely disappointing for the fans but possibly exciting for their rivals. Even with this, the big story in jakarta is Ahsan and Setiwan playing their final tournametn before retirement, could that spur them on to a last win?

Alfian and Ardianto have had a tough start to 2025 with a R32 and R16 loss to their names. They have generally struggled in Indonesia and this poor form could see that continue here. We don’t think they will claim the title in Jakarta. Xie and Zhang of China will pose a huge threat to them as well as Rankireddy and Shetty who have performed well so far this season.

The second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have had a patchy start to 2025 with a R16 defeat and Semifinal defeat to good pairs. They will have more hope of clinching the title than the Indonesian’s. Their R32 draw is favourable against the Danish pair Boe and Kjaer. The biggest danger we see for the Malaysians are their Indonesian rivals Fikri and Marthin and the aging Ahsan and Setiawan. Chia and Soh will be motivated to improve their semifinal finish from the India open last week so we are confiden they will perform well.

Could Rankireddy and Shetty build on a good start to 2025?

The Indian stars, Rankireddy and Shetty, had a good India Open making the semifinal on home ground. We all know they have great pedigree having been world number ones and in the top 10 for a few years now. Their draw in Indonesia is good, the Taipei pair in the R32 won’t give them too many problems. Likewise either R16 opponent should be an easy match for the Indians. To us the Chinese Taipei pair Chiu and Wang are going to be the biggest problem for Rankireddy and Shetty on their side of the draw. They beat Alfian and Ardianto the last 3 times they palyed and they have an even record last season against Chia and Soh.

Could the other seeds turn their bad starts around?

The rest of the top seeds don’t inspire confidence for us. There is Gutama and Isfahani of Indonesia who are seeded 6th. They were beaten by the English pair Lane and Vendy in Malaysia, a poor start to the season. In 2024 they ended the year with a finals at the China Masters and a 3rd place at the tour finals. A good sign but they are still inconsistent in our opinion.

Lee and Yang of Chinese Taipei are 3rd seeds have had a poor start to the year. Only a R32 and R16 finish so far which shows us they are in bad form. We doubt they will make it far in Jakarta as well, especially facing a Malaysian pair with the ability to take out hgiher ranked pairs. To round off the seeds we have Kang and Kim of Korea. A quarterfinal and R16 finish so far is ok for the new Korean pair who are seeded on notional ranking. They have been overshadowed by their compatriots KIM and SEO in the first two tournaments. Kang and Kim don’t look settled yet as a pair so we can’t see them going too far in Indonesia. We are looking for a stand out result from them to be able to beleive they can hit the same heights as their compatriots.

Will an unseeded pair make some waves?

There are a couple of options that make sense to watch out for in Jakarta. There are six Malaysian pairs outside of the seeding in Indonesia, at least one of those will breakthrough. We favour Man and Tee, ranked 13th. A really split start of the season a semifinal and R32 finish but did show last year at the indonesia Open they are capable of big things.

The Taipei pair of Chiu Hsiah Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin have taken a big victory already this year dropping Astrup and Rasmussen in Malaysia. Unfortuantely they don’t seem to have good stamina or consistency as they then get taken out themselves in the R16. This is a new partnership though so it will come in time. The signs are good though. We think these two could put together a good run but it’s unlikely they will go all the way. A quarterfinal against Rankireddy and Shetty is likely to go the Indian’s way.

We also like the Taipei pair of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jin Lee, they have a consistent start with two Quarter final finishes in 2025. They also have some good victories in their past few competitions like Chia and Soh. They really struggled last season rarely getting past the R16 but this looks to be changing now with some good wins. The Indonesia masters would be a good stage to make a statement of intent. We beleive they have a favourable draw to the semifinal wiht pairs they can beat. Watch out for these two, they are undervalued right now.

Who are the Dark Horses at the Indonesia Masters?

This week there is only one name you can pick for Dark Horses, Ahsan and Setiawan, The Daddies! Yes they had a tough year last year and they have been somewhat left behind by the younger pairs coming through. You can’t forget how incredible they have been throughout their careers and they have a hug incentive to play well in Jakarta as a farewell to the fans. We think they will be focused and rested for their last tournament together. At Badminton Speak we always want a good story to get behind and this is one of those!

Final predicaions for the Indonesia masters Mens Doubles

Our pick for the winner of the Men’s Doubles is Rankireddy and Shetty!

Our pick as an outside favourite would be Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jin Lee!