Indonesia Masters: Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet seal silver medal after final loss to world number three Thais
- Dechapol and Sapsiree simply too quick for Hong Kong as they cruise to their second consecutive tournament triumph
- Tang and Tse narrowly beat Watanabe and Higashino in semis after losing out to Japanese pair for Olympic bronze
Mixed doubles stars Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet had to settle for silver at the Indonesia Masters after being blitzed by number one seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, of Thailand, (21-11, 21-12) in just 34 minutes on Sunday.
The Thais, ranked third in the world, proved too quick out of the blocks against world number 11 Tang and Tse, taking advantage of their notable weakness returning from the backcourt.
The Hong Kong pair nonetheless heldtheir heads high on the podium, winning US$21,000 in what was their first time reaching a Super 750 final. It was the Thais’ second gold medal in two tournaments, having won the Saarbrucken Open earlier this month.
Tang and Tse had impressed on their way to the final, edging Japan’s world number five Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (18-21, 21-19, 21-17) on Saturday.
“They competed for more than an hour and half [in the semi-final], so I think recovery played a part,” said Hong Kong badminton head coach Tim He Yiming post-final.
“The opposition is quite young. For older players, recovery is a bit more of a problem. We played too slow and without that enthusiasm. In these moments, having speed is key otherwise it becomes difficult to win. Overall, it was a standard performance.”
The coach said he was excited by the final match-up and predicted it would come down to one element: the will to run.
“In terms of strength, aside from the two Chinese teams [ranked world number one and two], there’s not much in it between third and fifth,” He said after the tense semi-final win.
“The Japanese team’s ability to run is very strong – even when the shuttle is being slowed, they were still very quick. Psychologically there may have been a bit of fear there.
“If we’re talking about the technical side … then we are better than them. The problem is when we’re rallying and required to run, then we’re not always the best. We are a bit scared to play for example for an hour and a half, where you have to really push yourself physically.
“That’s actually a mental element. The issue is whether they can get through that barrier, and get through so many points. We still have no power at the back [of the court] by the third set.”
Tang, 26, and Tse, 30, have emerged as serious world mixed doubles contenders having exceeded expectations at the Tokyo Games this summer.
Coach He is confident that if they stick to their training regimes, it is only the beginning of significant medal hauls at elite level in the sport. They now turn their attention to this week’s Indonesia Open in Bali – a Super 1000 tournament.
“Next week, hopefully after a few days of rest, we can return. Hopefully in terms of energy and stamina we’ll get there. We have a conditioning coach, but it’s more about energy and concentration. We will get there,” he said.
“We say that if you train and compete smart, you should be able to play consistently. [Tang] is a bit younger and has more energy, whereas [Tse] is a bit older. If they both put effort in during training, I think these four years we will have some belief, the only problem is if they have that ability, to keep at it.”
