Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Shohibul Fikri

Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri have been a pair for about eighteen months and are already world No. 2 on the BWF list of 27 October 2026. They are the only pair to have beaten the world No. 1s, Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, in a final this year, and they did it twice in eight days.

Who they are

Both are from Bandung in West Java. Fajar Alfian, born 7 March 1995, is the older and the more decorated: with his previous partner Muhammad Rian Ardianto he was world No. 1 from December 2022, won the All England in 2023 and 2024 and the Malaysia Open in 2023, and took World Championships bronze in 2019 and 2022. Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, born 16 November 1999, won the 2022 All England with Bagas Maulana in one of the bigger upsets of recent years, and was later paired with Daniel Marthin.

The partnership began at the 2025 Sudirman Cup in Xiamen, when Fikri’s partner Daniel Marthin was injured and Alfian’s regular partner had taken leave from the tournament. Fourteen months later they won the Japan Open together. They reached No. 2 for the first time on 2 June 2026.

How they play

Two right-handers, one a former world No. 1 and one who has already won the All England, with a shared preference for getting the shuttle down first. Indonesian men’s doubles is usually described as attack-minded, and this pair fits: the serve and return exchange is short, and they look for the first lift and hit it.

What a club player should watch is the rotation. When one of them smashes from the back, the other is already moving to the net to cut off the block, and they swap positions without stopping. The attack is less about one huge smash than about three or four hits in a row that each arrive a little sooner than the defender wants.

The China Open final also showed the other side of them. They lost the first game 16-21, won the next two 21-19, 21-19, and the title was their first Super 1000 as a pair.

2026 so far

• Asian Championships, Ningbo (April): bronze, losing the semi-final to Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju 13-21, 21-14, 16-21.
• Singapore Open, 26 to 31 May (Super 750): final, lost to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 21-18, 17-21, 16-21.
• Japan Open, Tokyo, 14 to 19 July (Super 750): champions, beating Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae 21-19, 21-17.
• China Open, Changzhou, 21 to 26 July (Super 1000): champions, beating Kim and Seo 16-21, 21-19, 21-19.
• World Championships, New Delhi, 17 to 23 August: quarter-finals.
• Asian Games, Aichi-Nagoya (September): bronze, losing the semi-final to Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 17-21, 21-13, 9-21.
• Denmark Open, Odense, 13 to 18 October (Super 750): champions, beating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-8, 21-11.

Three titles from four finals, and two continental or multi-sport bronzes.

Titles

As a pair, that is the whole list so far. Alfian’s earlier record with Ardianto includes two All England titles (2023, 2024), the 2023 Malaysia Open and two World Championships bronzes (2019, 2022). Fikri won the 2022 All England with Bagas Maulana.

What to watch for

The World Tour Finals in Hangzhou in December is the first time they will play Kim and Seo in a field of eight, and on this year’s finals record they would start as favourites in that match. Kim and Seo will very likely finish 2026 at No. 1, but the pattern of the year, with the Koreans winning the first quarter and the Indonesians the second half, makes the 2027 Malaysia Open in January a real contest for the top ranking.

Next time you smash in doubles, check where your partner is when the block comes back. If they are not already at the net, that is the thing to fix: a smash sets up the point, and the partner finishes it.