New Delhi: Under the guidance of Malaysia’s 1996 Atlanta Olympics men’s doubles silver medalist – Yap Kim Hock, Singapore’s World No. 182 Terry Hee Yong Kai/Tan Wei Han pulled off a huge upset to down World No. 40 Chen Tang Jie/Peck Yen Wei of Malaysia 21-15, 21-18 to win their first BWF World Tour Super 500 title at the 2022 India Open on Sunday.
The husband and wife pair tied the knot in October 2021, and they also won the Czech Open the same month.
Chen/Peck almost leveled the score when they came from 9-16 down to close the gap at 17-18 in the second set. However, Tee/Tan managed to score two more points to reach the match-point. The Singaporeans then kept their cool, playing with strong defense to return two strong smashes from Chen before scoring the match point by forcing Chen to hit the shuttlecock out of bound.
“The scores were very close in the second game, and maybe our opponents were more nervous than us. We are happy that we played well,” said Hee.
Hee and Tan had not been competing at international tournaments consistently in the last two years with Hee having to serve in Singapore’s national service, while Tan was battling a shoulder problem that came up again one week before the start of the 2022 India Open.
“My badminton career has been ups and downs due to injuries. Just one week before our departure to India, my right shoulder was causing me a problem again. I was worried that I couldn’t compete,” said Tan.
Similar to the host country India which has won the men’s singles and men’s doubles titles, Thailand also picked up the women’s singles and women’s doubles titles on Sunday.
The No. 2 seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan overcame compatriot and No. 6 seed Supanida Katethong 22-20, 19-21, 21-13 to claim the women’s singles title while the Aimsaard sisters – the No. 4 seeds Nuntakarn Aimsaard and her younger sister Benyapa Aimsaard clinched their first-ever Super 500 crown by overcoming No. 3 seeds Anastasiia Akchurina/Olga Morozova from Russia 21-13, 21-5 in 34 minutes.
