LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships kicked off its quarterfinals at the Hong Kong Coliseum today, with both the MEN’S and WOMEN’S DOUBLES semifinal berths confirmed after the morning session.
In the MEN’S DOUBLES, Taiwanese Wang Chi Lin and Chiu Hsiang Chieh scrapped through with a two-game win over Huang Di and Zhou Hao Dong of China to move to the semifinals where they will meet reigning world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea. Wang and his original partner Lee Yang parted ways after capturing their second Olympic gold in Paris this summer and Wang hoped to past his experience and helped develop the younger new partner, just like the way he did in his early career. Chiu said he had been making steady improvement which made him feel less under pressure.
Combining only after the Paris Olympics, Wang/Chiu pair overcame two hurdles in Hong Kong before setting up the quarterfinals clash against the two mainlanders, who ousted the top seeds from Denmark in the opening round to reach the last eight. The two pairs exchanged the lead a number of times in the first game until the final stages when Wang and Chiu upped the tempo to take five points in a row to snatch the game 23-21 after deuce.
Boosted by the result, Wang/Chiu pair was never afraid of losing the second game as they only trailed once at 4-5 and sealed victory with a comfortable 21-17 win. This was their second semi-final appearance after reaching the last four in last month’s Korea Open.
In fact, it was only the third tournament for the Wang/Chiu pair. They were first stopped in the round of 16 in the Super 750 Japan Open, followed by two semifinal berths in the Korea and Hong Kong Opens respectively.
At the completion of their quarterfinals match, both players were so excited that they laid on the floor to celebrate as Wang said the result was not easy. “We came across many difficulties in the match as todays’ opponents are of different playing styles from previous players. We therefore needed some time to adjust and get into the rhythm and fortunately we solved the problem approaching the end of the first game.”
Wang and his former partner Lee Yang captured their second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Paris before Lee announced his retirement. Wang, however, chose to continue with a new and younger partner Chiu. “This is just like when I first started with Lee. He was the senior and a more experienced player who gave me a lot of help. I now want to do the same by passing the skills and experience to Chiu and help him develop.”
At 21, Chiu, who’s father was a professional baseball player, said there were bound to be pressure of working with such a quality senior but also felt excited about the chance. “We have exchanged our views as a pair and the way he started was just like me, working with a senior during the early days and learning a lot from him. Over the past few months, I have made improvements in both training and competitions with the help of Wang and can feel the pressure is getting less. I can now enjoy more of the game.”
Wang and Chiu will now meet the reigning world champions, Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae from South Korea in the semifinals. The latter beat Indonesia pair Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Daniel Marthin 2-0 (21-18, 21-17). The other semifinal will feature two Indonesian pairs which means the country should at least have one pair in the final.
In the WOMEM’S DOUBLES, top seeds Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea beat compatriots Lee Yu Lim and Shin Seung Chan in straight games 21-8, 21-18 to reach the semifinals. They will now meet Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia, the third seeds who cruised to a straight game win over Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi of Indonesia.
Another Korean pair, fourth seeds Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong beat Li Wen Mei and Zhang Shu Xian of China 21-19, 21-15 and will meet another pair from China in the semifinals, second seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning. The Chinese pair beat Korean pair Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong 21-10, 21-16 in the quarterfinals.
