Tang/Tse pair advances to second round; Lee Cheuk Yiu exits; Axelsen returns with defeat by Kodai Naraoka

“LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2025 part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500” continued at the Hong Kong Coliseum on Wednesday featuring home players in different events.

Mixed Doubles pair of Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet, the world number five, came from behind to beat Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien of Malaysia 2-1 (13-21, 21-10, 21-9) to reach the round of 16. However, top player Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, China lost to Rasmus Gemke 1-2 in the Men’s Singles first round. Also suffering an early exit was star player Viktor Axelsen, who returned in action after a long absence due to injury. The two-time Olympic champion lost to Kodai Naraoka of Japan in straight games.

The Tang/Tse pair captured a silver medal at the 2023 Hong Kong Open which was their best result so far in the home tournament. They also reached the semi-finals last year and the reigning Asian champions received a big round of applause from the fans when they entered the court as the tournament’s fifth seeds.

Against the Malaysian pair, they struggled in the first game following a 13-21 loss. But they recovered quickly and with the support of the crowd, they made it two games in a row 21-10, 21-9 to snatch the first round victory. The home favourites will now meet Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch of Denmark in the next stage.

After the match, the pair thanked the fans for the support as they came back from behind to seal victory. “Our form is not that good and could not match the opponents in the first game, but thanks to the fans as they continued to support us so that we could hang in there and came back from behind, point by point, game by game and won. We need to raise our form so that we can deal with the coming matches.”

Both players said they want to achieve the best result at the home tournament this year but first of all they had to adjust their conditions, physically and mentally, and take it match by match.

Another Mixed Double home pair of Hung Kuei Chun/Tsang Hiu Yan also made it to the second round after beating world number 60 combination, Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Crystal Lai of Canada in two identical games 21-19.

“We want to play well on the home ground and have had expectations on our game,” the pair said. “But unfortunately, this also gave us pressure and affected our performance as we could not enjoy the match. When we won, it was like a big relief. It is very special of reaching the round of 16 on the home ground and we will give all our best in the remaining matches.”

In the Women’s Doubles, Hung Ho Yan and Wong Yan Lam Yanes lost to Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr of Ukraine, the world number 22. Despite taking the first game 21-15, the home pair could not maintain the feat, losing the next two games 16-21, 19-21.

In the Men’s Singles, world number 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu had a strong start with a 21-19 win against Gemke in the opening game. However, that was the best the Hong Kong, China number one could offer as Lee surrendered the next two games 14-21, 18-21 after a gruelling 72-minute battle.

Another Hong Kong, China representative, Jason Gunawan because the third casualty of the home team in the Men’s Singles when he lost to Alwi Farhan of Indonesia. Gunawan, who made it to the quarter-finals last year and overcame World Championships bronze medallist Victor Lai of Canada in the qualifiers to reach the first round, was narrowly defeated by the Indonesian 15-21, 20-22 after 50 minutes.

The focus of the day was another clash between defending champion Viktor Axelsen and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan. The 31-year-old Danes received an operation on his back in March before returning to action in Hong Kong. But the result was far from ideal for Axelsen, who captured back-to-back Olympic title from 2020 Tokyo as he lost in a quicky fire match 15-21, 7-21 that lasted a mere 37 minutes. Axelsen was far from happy with the result as he always set a high standard on his performance.

Other seeded players went through to the second round. Third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei registered a 21-11, 21-15 win over Wang Zheng Xing of China while Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, the fourth seed, beat Brain Yeung of Canada in straight games 21-16, 21-14. Sixth seed Christo Popov of France came from behind to beat Anthony Ginting of Indonesia 19-21, 21-17, 21-19. Ginting achieved his highest world ranking of number two in 2023 but has now dropped to 66.

The “LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2025 part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500” is now being held at the Hong Kong Coliseum with the finals on September 14. Tickets are available at Urbtix. For details, please visit the official home page www.hkopenbadminton.org or contact the Badminton Association of Hong Kong, China at 2504 8318.