Home favourites Tang/Tse pair goes out in quarter-finals after three tough games; Pair feels sorry of losing good match but still thanks fans’ keen support

“LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2025 part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500” continued at the Hong Kong Coliseum with a heart-breaking Friday night after home favourites Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

The home team’s last hope in the tournament, the Mixed Doubles fifth seeds were beaten by Adnan Maulana and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil of Indonesia after 67 minutes in three games. Tang and Tse took the first game 21-13 but then the unseeded opponent came back to win 21-19, 21-18 in the next two and earned themselves a spot in the semi-finals.

Although the Indonesian pair ranks 28 places behind Tang and Tse in the world rankings, they did beat the Hong Kong, China combination 24-22, 21-12 when the two pairs met in the Indonesia Open first round early this year. Maulana and Jamil also upset fourth seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand in the previous round, proving they were hitting their top form in Hong Kong.

The home team felt sorry for the unfavourable result, saying, “We did well in the beginning periods of the first two games but could not dig deep to take the chances in the second. The opponents were very fast in the front court, forcing us into defence for most of the time. But the third game was very difficult to defend as we had to play against the wind and the Indonesians were in control. We tried our best to stay in the match but our effort went in vain.”

Although the result was hardly ideal, Tang and Tse, who reached the semi-finals last year and were the silver medallists in 2023, were still able to gain something out of the tournament. “Our condition has been getting better and better from day one and it seems we are able to regain our form which is very important,” Tse said. “I can say we feel much better than before and hopefully we can do better as we still have many events coming up.”

The pair once again thanked the home crowd for giving them the additional power during the competitions. “There has been pressure on us as the fans have high hopes and want us to do well, but their expectations also push us to work harder. We are deeply moved by the fans whenever we hear them cheering for us. In fact, we will not be able to stand where we are without their support over the years. Thank you so much!”

In another quarter-finals, top seeds and defending champions Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China went out of the tournament after losing to compatriots Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui in an all-China encounter. Sixth seeds Guo and Chen prevailed after three games 21-18, 8-21, 21-19 to set up a clash against Maulana and Jamil in the semi-finals.

In the Women’s Doubles, unseeded pair of Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara continued its winning streak and stormed into the semi-finals. After upsetting top seeds and reigning world champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China in the previous round, the world number 67 Japanese pair routed out another seeding, Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min, the fifth seeds from China. The Japanese girls won 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 22-20) after a gruelling 73-minute encounter. They will now meet another Japanese combination, Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi for a spot in the final.

In the Men’s Singles, sixth seed Christo Popov of France needed a gruelling 72-minute battle before upsetting fourth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore after three games, including a 29-27 score in the rubber. The Frenchman took the first game 21-18 before Loh equalised the overall score with a 21-9 win in the second. In a closely contested rubber game, former worldchampion Loh was the first to reach the match point at 20-19 which was saved by his French opponent, forcing the match into deuce.

The two players then exchanged the lead several times in the closing period until Popov finally grabbed the opportunity to earn two points in a row to make it 29-27 to win the tie.

The Frenchman will now meet second seed Li Shi Feng of China who survived with two games win after deuce to beat unseeded Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia. Li won both the first and third games 22-20 as he lost the second 14-21.

The other semi-finals clash will be held between third seed Chou Tien-Chen of Chinese Taipei and Lakshya Sen of India. Chou overcame Alwi Farhan of Indonesia after three games 22-20, 16-21, 21-14 while Sen came out the winner in an all-India quarter-finals by beating compatriot Ayush Shetty 21-16, 17-21, 21-13.