Debutant Li Shi Feng of China reaches Hong Kong Open final to face Lakshya Sen of India; Mainlander attempts to break 13-year title drought of China in Men’s Singles

“LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2025 part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500” produced all its 10 finalists after a full day of battles at the Hong Kong Coliseum on Saturday.

In the MEN’S SINGLES, world number four Li Shi Feng of China overcame Christo Popov of France in the semi-finals with two close game win 21-18, 21-19 after 51 minutes, making it to the final in his first appearance in Hong Kong.

The Mainlander will now face Lakshya Sen of India for the title. Sen had to put up his best fight to send home Chinese Taipei veteran Chou Tien-Chen in another match. Should Li win, he will become the first Men’s Singles champion for China in 13 years after Chen Long triumphed in 2012.

Against sixth seed Popov, who ousted former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the previous round, Li, the second seed, had a psychological advantage with a 2-1 head-to-head led over the Frenchman. And the Mainlander made a strong start with a 5-0 lead in the opening stage and although Popov closed the gap to 9-11 behind when heading to the half way mark, Li was still in control as he took the first game 21-18.

Popov struggled again in the second when his opponent scored eight consecutive points to lead 13-4. But the Frenchman never gave up, slowly clawing back to the game and was just three points behind 12-15 at one stage. Li then upped the tempo and extended his lead to 20-14 to reach the match point. Facing the defeat, Popov scored five points in a row to salvage the match and was just one point behind 19-20. But that was the best he could offer as Li took the last point to win 21-19.

World powerhouse China has produced many top-class badminton players but the last time they captured the Men’s Singles in Hong Kong had to date back to 2012 when Chen Long defeated Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-19, 21-17 in the final.

Li, who is the double gold medallist of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, said he had never thought of reaching the final in Hong Kong. “My form was hardly desirable in the first few days as I just played match by match to see if I could win through. Even after a day’s victory, I still had no idea if I could win it again the next day. I can just do the best and hope for a good result.”

The 25-year-old Hong Kong Open debutant, however, praised the atmosphere of the tournament, saying the huge support from the fans was one the major reasons for his victory. “I felt the power of the fans during the match when they cheered for me. They pushed me to work harder. It was not only local fans and I knew there were also fans from China to support me. It really helped.”

The other semi-finals was a repeat of last year’s Olympics when Chou Tien-Chen of Chinese Taipei and Lakshya Sen of India clashed in the quarter-finals which was won by Sen in three games as the Indian player finished fourth in Paris. Playing his first last four match in Hong Kong, Chou also had a 4-2 head-to-head record over the opponent. But still it was a closely contested match as the first game was decided after deuce when Chou lost 21-23.

Despite his age, 35-year-old Chou recovered from the deficit quickly in the second game and built up a 20-17 lead with three game points on hand. But Sen then surprisingly hit five consecutive points to seal victory with a 22-20 win.

Chou said after the defeat both players gave their best in the match and did not want to make excuse as Sen had two lucky points from the net in deuce. “This is also part of the game as you also need to be good enough to have the lucky points from the net,” he said.

It was an all-Japan semi-finals clash in the Women’s Doubles as fourth seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi ended the wonderful campaign of Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara after three games. It took 68 minutes before they scored a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 21-19) victory to send their unseeded compatriots home.

Chinese shuttlers dominated the two Mixed Doubles semi-finals. Second seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping reached their fifth final of the season after beating Yuta Watanabe and Misaki Matsutomo of Japan 21-14, 21-13. They will meet another Chinese pair of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui for the title as the sixth seeds also scored a two-game win 21-18, 21-12 over Adnan Maulana and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil of Indonesia.