Site Products
2015 Butterfly Badger Open: Bima Negara and Arif Irawan

Indonesian Team Sweeps 4 Events at 2015 Butterfly Badger Open

Indonesian Team Sweeps 4 Events at 2015 Butterfly Badger Open
by Barbara Wei

For most players, attending the Butterfly Badger Open requires a 2-3 hour flight or an extended road trip. However, for Bima Negara, Arif Irawan, Ismu Harinto and Steven Gunawan, the trip involved a 16 hour flight from Jakarta, Indonesia and months of planning.

More than 6 months prior to the Butterfly Badger Open, the Indonesian Table Tennis Association contacted Linda Leaf, Badger Open tournament director, to ask about entering the event. Having never received entries from Indonesia before, the Badger Open team quickly put together a plan to bring the four players to Wisconsin.

Unknown to almost all North American table tennis players, Bima Negara (Indonesian National Junior Team Member) and Arif Irawan (Top 10 Men’s Player in Indonesia) caused havoc in both the Open Singles and Open Doubles event. Bima Negara, an 18 year old who moves as swiftly and as lightly as a sparrow, caused the first upset in the Open Preliminary round robins, overcoming a 0-2 deficit against Tong Zhang (2450 – MS College) before winning the match 3-2 and advancing to the round of 16. Arif Irawan also did not disappoint, taking out the 3rd seed Jianhao Sun (2579 – LYTTC) in the preliminary round robin to advance into the main draw. Unfortunately, the two Indonesian players met each other in the round of 16, with Arif deciding to default and allow Bima to move forward. Bima then had a very hard fought quarterfinal match where he lost 3-4 against Rajat Hubli (2471) after being up 3-2 in the best of 7 encounters.

2015 Butterfly Badger Open: Bima Negara and Arif Irawan

2015 Butterfly Badger Open: Bima Negara and Arif Irawan

Although the Bima did not make the semi-finals of the Open Singles event, the Indonesian team of Bima Negara/Arif Irawan did win the Open Doubles event over Wei Qi/Michael Tran from Minnesota 4-1 in the final. En route to the final, they also beat 2015 Collegiate Doubles Champions Cheng Li/Tong Zhang in a very close 4-2 encounter, where almost all 6 games were won by only a two point margin. Bima then dominated the Under 18 age event, winning the championship title without losing a single game. Ismu Harinto and Steven Gunawan also played well, winning the Over 40 and the Recreational events respectively.

The Indonesian contingency looks forward to future appearances at Butterfly events and hope to use the experiences they’ve gained at this year’s Butterfly Badger Open to help compete in the Indonesian National Championships and the Indonesian Super League events later this year.

For coverage of the Badger Open and stories about the athletes visitButterflyOnline.com, or via Butterfly North America’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Latest News

Big League News: A Power Move to LA + MVP Drama!

April 3, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) New Owner, New City: Spinners Touch Down in LA! 🌴 MLTT is leveling… Read More

FETHOMANIA 21: Drill 2

April 3, 2025
FETHOMANIA 21: Drill 2 – Robot plays topspin ball to long Backhand, Logan Backhand chop block (HACK) close… Read More

WTT Incheon Update: Three Thursday Upsets, Tough Draws for the Americans

April 3, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) The WTT Champions Series event in Incheon is picking up steam heading toward… Read More

Limited Time: Save 10% on MLTT Championship Tickets!

April 2, 2025
It All Comes Down to This After an intense season, only four MLTT teams remain. The stakes couldn’t… Read More

Searching For The Perfect Balance Between Speed And Control In A Professional Table Tennis Blade?

April 2, 2025
(By Bowmar Sports/Nathan Britt) The Butterfly Fan Zhendong CNF might just be the best-kept secret in the high-performance… Read More

Butterfly Unveils Official Game Shirt for Japanese Men’s and Women’s National Teams

April 2, 2025
(by Butterfly Global) Japanese Men’s and Women’s National Teams to wear the new shirt starting April 1, 2025… Read More

WTT Champions Incheon: Sang-Su Surprise in Korea

April 1, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The WTT Champions Series event is in Incheon Korea this week, and a huge upset… Read More

FETHOMANIA 21: Drill 1

April 1, 2025
FETHOMANIA 21: Drill 1 – Robot plays long topspin to Backhand, Logan Backhand chop to Backhand, robot plays… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.