A Familiar and Surprising Victory
The second tournament in 2021 has just finished. Almost all athletes who took the podium of the Toyota Thailand Open were also the ones that were in the final of Yonex Thailand Open just a week ago.
In the men’s singles, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen just kept slaying his opponents. In the final match held in Bangkok on Sunday (24/1), Axelsen beat his compatriot Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus easily 21-11, 21-7. Axelsen has won four times in their six encounters.
Two young Indonesian badminton players, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan “Jojo” Christie, were expected to be able to tackle Axelsen. However, they did not. They were defeated at the Yonex Thailand Open. He defeated Jojo in the quarter-finals and Anthony in the semifinals. While at the Toyota Thailand Open, both of them fell in the early rounds.
So far, men's singles remained in the hands of Axelsen, the women’s singles is won by Carolina Marin from Spain, Taiwanese pair Lee Yang / Wang Chi-Lin won the men's doubles and Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh / Sapsiree Taerattanachai won for mixed doubles.
A new champion is in the women's doubles that was won by South Korean representatives Kim So Yeong / Kong Hee Yong. Last week at the Yonex Thailand Open, this category was won by the Indonesian pair Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu. But at the Toyota Thailand Open, the Indonesian duo were stopped in the semifinals.
The women’s doubles category is now one of South Korea’s biggest hopes for achieving more success. The proof is at the Toyota Thailand Open, where there was a final between the representatives of the country. Kim So Yeong / Kong Hee Yong met Lee So Hee / Shin Seung Chan and won 21-18, 21-19.
In fact, Korea also had a chance to add to the title of mixed doubles. However, Seo Seung Jae / Chae Yujung lost to Dechapol Puavaranukroh / Sapsiree Taerattanachai 16-21, 20-22.
In the last two weeks we have seen a lot of surprises, a lot of unexpected losses and triumphs. It is inspirational to look at how the players keep putting their best efforts despite the challenging situations we all are still dealing with.
Best of luck to all who qualify for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020! Let’s keep supporting our Asian athletes!
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