The BWF World Tour Finals 2025 is a prestigious badminton event with only eight contestants.
"I'm grateful that we made it to the World Tour Finals. This was unexpected, too, because even though we only participated in eight tournaments, we finally made it. And yes, the results were quite good, so I'm very happy," Fikri told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
Fajar Alfian's pair revealed that at the 2025 Australian Open last week, despite losing to their juniors, Raymond Indra/Nikolaus Joaquin, the result was beyond expectations because in that event they were able to secure a ticket to the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals.
"The results were indeed beyond expectations, and not bad at all. So, thank God, because with the preparation and the huge goal of reaching the World Tour Finals," said Fikri.
"Yes, there was quite a burden, but in the end, we were able to overcome them one by one... perhaps it wasn't our destiny to reach the final for Fajar and I, but we were also very proud that the champion was our junior from Indonesia," he added.
Fajar/Fikri are currently preparing for the tournament that will take place in Hangzhou, China on December 17-21.
The pair, which was formed just four months ago, are currently performing brilliantly and have been quite consistent in the last few BWF tournaments.
Fajar/Fikri even shot up to 11th place in the world rankings with a collection of 66,590 points, just a small gap from their closest rivals Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi who have a collection of 66,942 points.
Fajar/Fikri's impressive performance is expected to continue in the World Tour Finals, which is a tournament that can earn them many BWF points to improve their current ranking.
