Denmark Open: South Korea duo spoil Reginald Lee’s Super 750 comeback, while Lee Cheuk-yiu ‘must improve physically’
- Hongkongers exit at Denmark Open, with Lee and Yoyo Ng well beaten and admitting they were ‘too passive throughout’
- Men’s singles brings defeat for Lee Cheuk-yiu, but the Hong Kong players move on to next Super 750 event, the French Open
Reginald Lee Chun-hei’s first Super 750 badminton tournament in four years ended in disappointment as he and partner Yoyo Ng Tsz-yau proved no match for South Korea’s top mixed doubles pair in the Denmark Open.
The Hongkongers lost 21-13, 21-5 to world No 11 duo Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung in the second round in Odense on Thursday.
Lee and Ng had three months ago won the Taipei Open, their first outing at Super 300 level as a pairing, but this latest step up was beyond them.
“Our loss was mostly due to our inability to match their speed, and we were too passive throughout the match,” said Lee, 28, who had not appeared in any Super 750 events – those with US$750,000 of total prize money – since October 2018.
With former partner Cathy Chau Hoi-wah, he had enjoyed a string of successes between 2012 and 2018, winning the Asian Championship and taking bronze medals at the 2015 BWF Super Series Finals and the 2017 World Championships.
Then came three years out of the game because of a shoulder injury, a partner switch and Hong Kong’s players remaining in the city during the coronavirus pandemic.