Women's badminton pair Zhao and Tian win doubles at Hong Kong Open, prove Olympic success no fluke
Women's pair Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing prove a point over Olympic rivals in final of Hong Kong Open as China make it a clean sweep
Olympic Games champions Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing of China proved their success in London this summer was no fluke when they beat compatriots Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli in the women's doubles final at the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open yesterday.
On a day when the Coliseum in Hung Hom was packed with more than 5,000 fans, the Chinese shuttlers made a clean sweep of all five titles, starting with Zhao and Tian, who won 22-20, 14-21, 21-17.
The victory was an important one because many felt their Olympic gold medal wasn't fully deserved. Reigning world champions Yu and Wang were the top seeds in London but were thrown out of the Games - along with three other pairs - for deliberately losing games at the group stage to engineer a better draw in the knockout rounds.
Yesterday's final was the first time Zhao and Tian had met Wang and Yu in a competitive match since the Olympics.
"We didn't feel we had to prove ourselves here," insisted Zhao, who, two hours later, combined with Zhang Nan to take the mixed doubles title, beating Xu Chen and Ma Jin 21-17, 21-17 in the final.
"The Olympics are over and we'd rather not dwell on what happened in London. We've moved on from that and are looking to the future. Of course, we're very happy to have won here by beating the world champions.