Hong Kong badminton pair Tang Chun-man, Tse Ying-suet move a step closer to World Tour finals at Indonesia Open
- Mixed doubles duo beat South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae and Kim Hye-jeong in three games to reach second round in Bali, where another win may see them through
- After finishing as runners-up at Indonesia Masters last week, Tang and Tse sit ninth in overall standings with top eight teams reaching next week’s tournament
Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet stayed well on course for a place in the HSBC World Tour finals after progressing to the second round of the mixed doubles at the Indonesia Open in Bali on Wednesday.
The Hong Kong shuttlers continued their recent winning ways by beating Seo Seung-jae and Kim Hye-jeong of South Korea 21-12, 19-21, 21-19.
The US$850,000 tournament is the last stop on the circuit before the top eight singles players and pairs across all five events make it to next week’s finals, which will also take place in Bali as world badminton’s governing body tries to contain the effect of air travel restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
After reaching the Indonesia Masters final over the weekend, Tang and Tse have surged to ninth place in the overall standings ahead of their clash with Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya of Japan on Thursday at the Super 1,000 event.
Badminton head coach Tim He Yiming is delighted with the pair’s performance, saying Tang and Tse are hitting top form despite having had to deal with a hectic overseas schedule since last month.
“They have done very well since the season relaunched in Europe in October, and have shown little sign of tiredness despite playing week after week,” said He. “They are now very close to reaching the finals and hopefully they can hang in there and continue to deliver.”
Tang and Tse seek World Tour finals spot at Indonesian Open
Since the tour resumed in Europe after the Tokyo Olympics, the Hong Kong pair have reached the quarter-finals of the Super 1,000-level Denmark Open in mid October, and the semi-finals of the French Open.
They slipped up at the Hylo Open in Germany, though, where they were shown the exit door in the first round.
The tour then moved to Asia, beginning with the Indonesia Masters, and followed by the Indonesia Open, where Hong Kong men’s singles players Angus Ng Ka-long and Lee Cheuk-yiu lost in the opening round.
Ng was beaten by Kenta Tsuneyama of Japan 22-20, 13-21, 21-19, while Lee could not get past fourth seed Chou Tien-Chen of Taiwan, losing 21-12, 21-14.
Badminton duo Tang and Tse win Indonesia Masters silver
Although the duo cannot make it to the World Tour finals, they will stay in Bali for training, as they still have to prepare for the World Championships in Huelva, Spain in mid December.
If they returned to Hong Kong, they would be required to go through a lengthy hotel quarantine which would virtually end their chances of playing again in 2021.
