Muhammad Haikal

Muhammad Haikal bin Nazri (born 26 December 2002) is a Malaysian badminton player.[1][2] He won three titles in 2021: Austrian Open, Hellas International and Ukraine International tournaments in the men's doubles event partnered with Junaidi Arif.[3]

Muhammad Haikal
Personal information
Birth nameMuhammad Haikal bin Nazri
CountryMalaysia
Born (2002-12-26) 26 December 2002 (age 21)
Kelantan, Malaysia
Height1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
HandednessLeft
Men's doubles
Highest ranking20 (with Choong Hon Jian, 18 June 2024)
38 (with Junaidi Arif, 6 December 2022)
Current ranking20 (with Choong Hon Jian, 18 June 2024)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  Malaysia
Thomas Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Chengdu Men's team
Asia Team Championships
Silver medal – second place 2024 Selangor Men's team
SEA Games
Silver medal – second place 2021 Vietnam Men's team
BWF profile

Career

2021

Partnered with Junaidi Arif, they won the 2021 Austrian Open,[4] Hellas International,[5] and Ukraine International.[6] The duo also finished runners-up at the Latvia International[7] and Scottish Open.[8]

2022

In January, Haikal and Arif competed at the Syed Modi International tournament. In April, they competed at the Orléans Masters but were forced to concede a walkover to Dutch pair Ruben Jille and Ties van der Lecq in the final after Haikal was tested positive for COVID-19.[9] In May, he competed at the SEA Games, and won the silver medal in the men's team event.[10][11]

A few months later, Haikal and Arif reached the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters.[12] In December, he captured the Malaysia International title partnered with Nur Izzuddin.[13]

2023

Following a reshuffle in the national men's doubles department in February, Haikal began partnering Izzuddin, thus ending his three-year partnership with Arif.[14] In March, the new pair reached the final of Ruichang China Masters, but went down to the home pair of Chen Boyang and Liu Yi in rubber game.[15]

In June, Haikal and Izzuddin's partnership were dissolved after Izzuddin reunited with his former partner Goh Sze Fei.[16] In August, Haikal began partnering Choong Hon Jian.[17]

In October, he and Choong entered the final of Indonesia Masters II and finished as the runners-up.[18] In December, the duo competed at the Syed Modi International. En route to their first BWF World Tour title, they defeated the second and top seeds in the semi-finals[19] and final, respectively.[20] The following week, they won another title at the Guwahati Masters.[21]

2024

In late January, he was chosen to represent Malaysia's men's team at the 2024 Asia Team Championships.[22] In March, he and Choong clinched their third title at the Orléans Masters.[23]

Achievement

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[24] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[25]

Men's doubles

YearTournamentLevelPartnerOpponentScoreResultRef
2022Orléans MastersSuper 100 Junaidi Arif Ruben Jille
Ties van der Lecq
Walkover Runner-up[9]
2023Ruichang China MastersSuper 100 Nur Izzuddin Chen Boyang
Liu Yi
16–21, 21–19, 21–23 Runner-up[15]
2023 (II)Indonesia MastersSuper 100 Choong Hon Jian Kenya Mitsuhashi
Hiroki Okamura
16–21, 18–21 Runner-up[18]
2023Syed Modi InternationalSuper 300 Choong Hon Jian Akira Koga
Taichi Saito
18–21, 21–18, 21–16 Winner[20]
2023Guwahati MastersSuper 100 Choong Hon Jian Lin Bing-wei
Su Ching-heng
21–17, 23–21 Winner[21]
2024Orléans MastersSuper 300 Choong Hon Jian Sabar Karyaman Gutama
Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani
21–15, 18–21, 21–14 Winner[23]

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

Men's doubles

YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResultRef
2021Austrian Open Junaidi Arif Lucas Corvée
Ronan Labar
21–17, 21–15 Winner[4]
2021Latvia International Junaidi Arif Muhammad Nurfirdaus Azman
Yap Roy King
23–21, 15–21, 19–21 Runner-up[7]
2021Hellas International Junaidi Arif Ondřej Král
Adam Mendrek
21–16, 21–15 Winner[5]
2021Ukraine International Junaidi Arif Ishaan Bhatnagar
K. Sai Pratheek
21–15, 19–21, 21–15 Winner[6]
2021Scottish Open Junaidi Arif Christopher Grimley
Matthew Grimley
20–22, 16–21 Runner-up[6]
2022Malaysia International Nur Izzuddin Goh Boon Zhe
Goh Sze Fei
21–17, 21–16 Winner[13]
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament
  BWF Future Series tournament

References