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Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet celebrate their mixed doubles success at the Denmark Open. Photo: Reuters

Fairy tale complete as Hong Kong mixed doubles pair pull off ‘well deserved’ victory

Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet win their first superseries title in Odense after only a year together playing as a team

The fairy tale run of mixed doubles badminton pair Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet had a perfect ending as the Hong Kong shuttlers clinched their first superseries title after beating the number one seed from China in the final of the Denmark Open on Sunday.

After pulling off a big surprise by beating the Rio Olympic champions from Indonesia in the semi-finals on Saturday, Tang and Tse, who paired up only last year, followed up with another stunning win, beating China’s Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen 24-22, 19-21, 23-21 in the final.

“It was such a great result as this is the first time we won a superseries title,” said Tse. “And we made it after overcoming many quality opponents. It’s a well deserved result.”

Watch: Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet celebrate their win with coach Choong Tan Fook

It took almost an hour for the Hong Kong pair to secure victory as they battled in front of a small but vocal crowd of supporters.

The Denmark Open offered the second highest total prize money of US$750,000 on the world tour, behind the US$1 million Indonesia Open, which was held in June.

Tse Ying-suet goes for a shot as Tang Chun-man looks on during their victory in Odense. Photo: EPA

“We encountered difficulties in the second game but thanks to the support of fans, we were able to hang in there before clinching victory,” said Tse.

Head coach Tim He Yiming said he always had high hopes of the pair even though they were formed in 2016.

Tse Ying-suet collapses in excitement as she is helped up by partner Tang Chun-man. Photo: EPA

“They both have the qualities needed for a doubles player. As long as they put in all the hard work during training, the results will come,” said the coach.

“In fact, they have already reached two finals in the grand prix gold level last year after a short time together as a team and they did a good job at this year’s World Championships after reaching the quarter-finals.

“They definitely have room for improvement and we hope they can continue to work hard and make themselves better players.”

Tse and Tang are the second mixed doubles pair from Hong Kong to win a superseries title after Lee Chun-hei and Chau Hoi-wah accomplished the feat at the 2015 Australian Open.

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