PETALING JAYA: South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae rebounded in style from a tough start to capture the men’s doubles title in the World Tour Finals.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae had suffered a dip in form after capturing the world title in August and lost their opening group match in the Finals to Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen but yesterday, they were on fire.
The world No. 6 Koreans stunned home favourites and world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-17, 22-20 in the final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Cenre Gymnasium yesterday.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae brilliantly fought back from 16-20 down in the second game to grab the win.
It was sweet revenge for the pair after losing to Weikeng-Wang Chang in the Indian Open in January.
A day earlier, Min-hyuk-Seung-jae had also broken the hearts of the home fans when they beat defending champions Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi 21-13, 21-12 in the last four.
The Koreans were delighted to end their year on a high note.
“We had lost our first group match and we knew this tournament was going to be tough for us from then on,” said Min-hyuk in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation.
“But we just wanted to play well one match at a time and we are happy to win the title.
“We are not finished though and we believe we can get even better next year,” added Min-hyuk.
There was some joy for the home fans though after Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan and Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong triumphed in the women’s and mixed doubles.
Meanwhile, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying continued with their domination in the men and women’s singles in the Finals.
World No. 1 Axelsen outclassed Shi Yuqi of China 21-11, 21-12 to win the Finals for the third time while world No. 4 Tzu-ying won her fourth edition after coming from behind to beat Spain’s three-time world champion and Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin 12-21, 21-14, 21-18 in the women’s singles final.
RESULTS
(All finals)
Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Shi Yuqi (Chn) 21-11, 21-12.
Men’s doubles: Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) 21-17, 22-20.
Women’s singles: Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Carolina Marin (Spa) 12-21, 21-14, 21-18.
Women’s doubles: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-16, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) 21-11, 21-18.
(Semi-finals)
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) 21-12, 21-5; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) 21-19, 23-21.
