T

he Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) will introduce a new mixed doubles pair in the BCA Indonesia Open Metlife BWF World Super Series Premier 2014 on June 17-22 at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Veteran female player Greysia Polii, who plays in the women'€™s doubles event with Nitya Krishinda Maheswari '€” whom she has played with since 2013 '€” will also play in the mixed doubles event with newcomer Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.

'€œWe will play without a burden as this will be our debut and our coach has not set a target for us. We will just play and enjoy the matches. [The Indonesia Open] is a good tournament to gain experience, especially for Kevin,'€ Greysia said during a press conference on Monday.

The new pair must first navigate a qualifying round and will likely face Malaysian pair Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid/Fie Cho Soong.

Eighteen-year-old Kevin said he felt honored to be partnering with a senior player like Greysia.

'€œI have nothing to lose. I'€™m just grateful I can play and learn from a senior player,'€ said Kevin, who won the men'€™s doubles event with Selvanus Geh at the New Zealand Open Grand Prix in April.

Twenty-six-year-old Greysia last played in a mixed doubles event with former partner Muhammad Rijal in the 2007 Swiss Open Super Series, where they finished as runners up.

Greysia and her current partner Nitrya brought home a silver medal from the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar. Their most recent achievement was runner-up at the 2014 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold.

Greysia/Nitya, which sit in 10th position in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings, will face Singaporeans Mingtian Fu/Yu Yan Vannessa Neo in the first round of the US$750,000 Indonesia Open tournament.

Also playing with new partners in the tournament are Chinese veteran Cai Yun who will play with 20-year-old Kai Lu, while his former partner Fu Haifeng will partner 24-year-old Zhang Nan.

Cai/Kai and Fu/Zhang made their debuts as partner in the 2014 Malaysia Open in January.

Cai said the player reshuffle was the best decision, considering they were no longer young. Cai and Fu are 34 and 30-years-old, respectively.

'€œI'€™m sad we had to part ways but we need to obey this decision. It [the change] is made in preparation for the 2016 Olympics,'€ said Cai as quoted by kompas.com.

Fu, on the other hand, said he hoped they could play better and achieve more with their younger partners.