LI-NING Hong Kong Open｜Tsang/Tse pair and Lee Cheuk Yiu both reach quarterfinals after three tough game wins over Malaysians

Top MIXED DOUBLES pair Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong, China and compatriot MEN’S SINGLES local number one Lee Cheuk Yiu made it to the quarterfinals, both after a three-game victory over their Malaysian opponents. Tang/Tse overcame Roy King Yap and Valeree Siow while Lee had a narrow win when he snatched the rubber game 24-22 after deuce.  

The world number seven pair had an impressive run in the opening round when defeating a Chinese Taipei pair that featured Wang Chi Lin, a two-time Olympic champion in the MEN’S DOUBLES. Returning to the court tonight with huge support from the fans, the home favourites could only find themselves 0-1 down (16-21) after the first game as the Malaysians took the initiative the quickest possible.

The second game was a closely fought encounter. Although Tang/Tse led halfway through with a slender 11-9 advantage, the score soon tied at 19-19 after several exchanges of lead. Fortunately, the home team was able to dig deep at that moment and equalised the overall score after a 21-19 win. The deciding game looked a bit more easy for Tang/Tse as they ran away with a 15-11 led before sealing victory 21-15. They will now meet another Malaysian combination, Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie in the quarterfinals.

Tse said after the demanding match, “So tired after the match and in fact it was even more difficult than the Olympic Games. We almost broke down but fortunately the fans cheered for us from the beginning until the end. This is our fourth quarterfinal appearance of this year but we feel very happy because it happened in front of family members and friends. We did the best we could and the result comes as a great satisfaction.”

After the pair overcame the younger opponents, Tang made fun with Tse, suggesting the media could use the headline ‘33 years old beats 23 years old’. He said this was the first time they played against the Malaysian pair and found the match really exhausted. While they could take few points in a row, they could also lose the next few points cheaply. “The power of the fans can account for 90 percent of our victory today especially in the third game when it was a close rally. Without the support of all the fans at the venue, we could have easily run out of energy and could not continue,” Tang said.

World number 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu had never met Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia, the world number 29, before the match and the duo showed a thrilling match in front of the strong crowd. Lee once went behind in the first game but was able to recover quickly to take it 21-14. The second game was still closely contested with the score levelled several times. Leong took the lead after the halfway mark and equalised the overall score to 1-all with a 21-15 win. It was a big challenge for the home star when Lee went down 3-10 in the deciding game. He then closed the gap to two points behind at 15-17 and levelled it at 18-all before the game went into a tie breaker where Lee finally took to win 24-22. The victory set up a clash between Lee and Lei Lan Xi of China in the quarterfinals.

Lee admitted it was a difficult match after his three-game victory. “I could feel the pressure before the match as I wanted to prove I have made improvement in my physical condition. Although it may not reach a perfect state, I was still able to hang it there when necessary and won.” The match went through a heated atmosphere especially in the closing stages as fans cheered for the home player. At one time, Lee asked for support from the fans, but then he also put his palms together trying to calm himself down. “It was some mixed feelings. I wanted to get more excited so that I could gain additional power to win but also feared I might get over excited and lost my head, hitting the shuttlecock too strong to cross the line and making simple errors. I had to make quick adjustments and found the correct answer of how to play each point to win.”

Lee seemed to have twisted his foot during the match when he needed immediate treatment but his condition seemed to be fine.

In another match, MIXED DOUBLES pair Lee Chun Hei Reginald/Ng Tsz Yau of Hong Kong, China lost to fourth seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia. After conceding the first game 14-21, the home pair was 1-4 down in the second when Ng decided to retire from the match because of a shoulder injury. She said after the match that her right shoulder felt unwell during training a few days ago but because the tournament was approaching, she had no time to make a thorough check and could only lessen the pain by doing physiotherapy treatment.

“I felt a little better after each treatment but it was difficult to use full power. The situation got worse after the first match yesterday.” As the pair still has a few more tournaments ahead, they decided to abandon the match in order not to aggravate Ng’s injury.

“We felt sorry of not to continue as it’s a home tournament with huge support from the crowd,” Ng said.

Another MIXED DOUBLES pair, Lui Chun Wai/Fu Chi Yan lost to sixth seeds Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui of China following a 0-2 defeat. It was the first time the pair reached the round of 16 in a Super 500 tournament. Although they failed to move a step further, they were not too disappointed with the result. “We did not expect we could catch up the speed and tempo of the strong opponents as they were very fast. We lost concentration a bit after the first 11 points in both games because when we tried to get more points, we made more mistakes. We felt a bit sorry about this.”

In the WOMEN’S SINGLES, Saloni Samirbhai Mehta of Hong Kong, China was stopped by Aya Ohori of Japan, the fifth seed and world number nine, after losing three games 21-9, 16-21, 12-21 in the second round. The qualifier said she always conceded points easily when trailing behind the opponent. “I could play more comfortable if I was in the lead but I didn’t do it very well today. Also, when the opponent upped her tempo, I could not match it,” she said.

Despite the defeat, Saloni said she could still take something out of the match against a top 10 player especially winning the first game 21-9 which was something out of her expectations. “I didn’t expect I could play so well in the first game. But in the second game, I was always the attacking one but I didn’t play very well and then I lost also the third game.

“I still need to improve in a lot of areas, especially in my speed and consistency when attacking. Overall, I played quite well in the tournament but still need to learn more to take up the pressure and keep calm to play better when facing strong opponents.”