LI-NING Hong Kong Open｜Axelsen captures first HK Open title Han Yue reigns over women’s singles

LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships concluded at the Hong Kong Coliseum on Sunday with two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark clinching his first MEN’S SINGLES title in Hong Kong. There were also new records in both the WOMEN’S SINGLES and DOUBLES. Han Yue, a new generation of singles player from China, reigned in the WOMEN’S SINGLES while the DOUBLES was won by Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics. All players attributed their success to the strong support from the crowd. The MEN’S DOUBLES title was captured by Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea while the MIXED DOUBLES title went to Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China.

Despite a leading player on the world stage, Axelsen has never won in Hong Kong. Buoyed by his success in this Summer Olympics, the Danes was seemingly unstoppable in his first campaign after the Paris Games. Against world number 33 LEI Lan Xi, who upstaged defending champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the previous round, Axelsen proved to be too strong for the opponent, taking the first game 21-9.

Lei speeded up his game in the second, building an early 5-3 lead before Axelsen levelled it at 7-all as the Danes continued his dominance by leading 11-7 into the halfway mark. There seemed to be little the mainlander could do when Axelsen put up a powerful game to seal the victory with another 21-12 win. An emotional Axelsen knelt down and yelled after his first victory in Hong Kong. He also thanked the support of the crowd as he threw his racket onto the spectator stand, making the fans crazy.

After snatching his victory, a delighted Axelsen repeated in mandarin that he was very happy. “I am so lucky to have won so many events before but this is the first one in Hong Kong. I feel so happy and excited.” He also thanked the support of the fans, making him work hard towards every match as he was once in worry of his form after the Paris Olympics. “Fans here love badminton so much and they always give me the power to go forward. I didn’t have too much structure training after the Olympic Games and that put me under pressure. I am, in fact, caught by surprise of doing so well here with such high-level performance.”

In the WOMEN’S SINGLES, world number eight Han Yue faced Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, who also reached the final of last week’s Taipei Open. The mainlander held a better head-to-head record of winning all their three previous encounters. And Han lived up to the expectations in the final when she cruised to a straight game 21-18, 21-7 victory.

While Han was delighted with her first gold medal in Hong Kong because of her hard work and effort, she also praised her opponent in the final. “The first game was never easy as Wardani once came strongly from behind to level the score, giving me a lot of difficulties. But having said that, I am also well prepared for the final and that’s why I could win.”

The mainlander added she enjoyed the tournament in Hong Kong very much and promised to come back in future.

The WOMEN’S DOUBLES was one of the highlights of the final day with a clash between Paris Olympics silver medallists Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China and Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia, who came fourth in Paris. The two pairs had met six times before their final in Hong Kong, with the Chinese combination holding a better record of four wins, including a victory in the quarterfinals of last month’s Japan Open. But it was a different story in Hong Kong as the top form Malaysian pair made no mistake with two identical 21-14 win to become the first pair from their country to win the Hong Kong Open title.

Pearly Tan was surprised that they had made the record in the Hong Kong Open. “We did not know about it until we won that we are the first women doubles pair of Malaysia to have won here,” she said. “It’s very nice to win the honour and we hope we can create more records in future.” Tan also praised the atmosphere of the tournament and thanked the support of the fans while Thinaah said she had never thought of the title until they won it. “We didn’t set any target before we came and just wanted to enjoy every match. We are so happy that we can win here.”

In the MEN’S DOUBLES, reigning world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea were the better side against Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia as they captured the gold medal with a comfortable 21-13, 21-17 win. Kang said the result came as a timely booster before they set off for the China Open next week. He also said they had beaten the Indonesian pair before and therefore they could start the match with greater confidence. Seo was happy to play in Hong Kong again, adding the victory in Hong Kong could help them prepare the China Open better.

The MIXED DOUBLES final was contested between two pairs from China, top seeds Feng Yan Zhi and Huang Dong Ping and second seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin. Wei partnered Guo Xin Wa to beat Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in the final last year and she continued to do well this time with her new partner Jiang.

Despite facing the top seeds and silver medallists of the Paris Olympics, they were able to revert their poor head-to-head record of losing seven times in eight previous encounters to the same opponents and captured the title after a straight game 21-17, 21-19 victory.

Wei said the pair had made some adjustments for the final after losing to their teammates so many times before. “We have lost to them many times and therefore we have nothing to lose this time as we threw everything we have to challenge them and it seems working,” said Wei. Jiang said the result proved the effort they had made. “We were unable to deliver when we met them before as they are very experienced. We have made a lot of hard work in order to revert the situation, and the result is a recognition of our effort,” Jiang said.