【Hong Kong Badminton Open】New Men’s Doubles Pair Tam Chun-hei and Yonny Chung Look for Breakthrough after Switching Category

In recent years, there have been many up-and-coming Hong Kong badminton players, who have not only achieved remarkable results in singles but also gained traction in international-level in doubles. New Men’s Doubles Pair Tam Chun-hei and Yonny Chung, both born in the 1990’s, are seasoned players albeit the young age. This duo will compete in the Men’s Doubles at the Hong Kong Open for the second time and hopes to scale new heights with home advantage this year.

Tam Chun-hei, aged 26, entered the Hong Kong team at the same time alongside with Hong Kong Men’s Singles No.1 player Angus Ng Ka-long. Becoming a full-time athlete during Form 3 of secondary education, Tam focused at Men’s Singles at the time. “My teammate Angus, who entered the team at the same time as I, has steadily scaled new heights in singles while I have not had any breakthrough,” he said. His coach had persuaded him for two years before he switched to doubles. “I said no every time when my coach said being a double player might be more suitable for me. However, I finally reached a bottleneck that I had to decide whether I should retire and compete in doubles.”

Switching to doubles halfway through his career, Tam has showcased his potentials. He advanced to the semi-finals of Mixed Doubles with Yoyo Ng Tsz-yau at the 2017 Malaysia Masters. He changed to play Men’s Doubles a year later and has kept on competing in this category since then. “I really feel switching category is an appropriate choice for me, as I could play more freely in Men’s Doubles. I’m more willing to take risks and venture abroad.”

Tam has partnered with Yonny Chung in Men’s Doubles for more than a year, and the duo was crowned at the Singapore International Series in August last year. Debuting at the Hong Kong Open last year, the pair was eliminated in the first round of the main draw. They will start from the qualification rounds this year and hope to take one match a time. Four years younger than Tam, Chung was born in a badminton family, with both his mother and uncle being renowned badminton players. Every time when Tam dines at the home of his grandfather, the topics of the family conversations are always about badminton. “My granddad posts the entry lists of every major tournaments and matches besides the television, some of which I have not even paid attention to,” he said.

As his life is inseparable from badminton, Chung is extremely committed to the sport. After his ankle suffering from stress fracture last year, he took a break for nearly eight months before being able to resume practice. “I were only able to walk slowly within the Hong Kong Sports Institute for more than half a year. Besides receiving therapy, I was an assistant coach to the junior team at the time. When I saw them move freely at the court, I was more eager to return to playing,” he said.

With different expectations towards badminton, Tam and Chung have partnered for more than a year and said they are still in the learning curve. Tam remarked: “Our characters and game were different, and we could play these to our strengths during Men’s Doubles.” They complement each other, and could go far together as a team.

“YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2019” will take place from 12th to 17th November at Hong Kong Coliseum. Some Hong Kong players will play the qualification rounds on the first day of the tournament.