Muelheim: Malaysian World No. 17 men’s pair Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin showed great fighting spirit and brought everything out of them to pull off a win over China’s Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi 23-21, 16-21, 21-14, winning their first-ever Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour tournament at the 2022 German Open on Sunday.
Goh/Izzuddin were trailing 18-20 in the first game, but they kept attacking and pressuring Ou Xuan Yi to make mistakes in which the Malaysian duo successfully won the first game 23-21 when Ou couldn’t return the hard smash from Izzuddin.
The Chinese pair quickly opened up a 16-11 lead in the second game and managed to force a decider when Ou was able to kill the shuttlecock towards Izzuddin.
In the third set, Izzuddin sustained a right knee injury when leading by 14-11. The Malaysian pair called a medical timeout. After the tournament doctors gave Izzuddin some spray at his right knee, he resumed the play but was obviously feeling a lot of pain as he was seen limping slightly on the court. That’s when the miracle happened as Goh Sze Fei tried to cover the court for his partner by making several trick shots to score the next four points to put Malaysia in front with 18-13. Izzuddin then scored the next three points with an injured right knee to wrap up the third set 21-14. Both Malaysians sank to their knees after the victory and were congratulated by their coach, Flandy Limpele.
Highlights of the men’s doubles final:
(source: BWF)
In the men’s singles competition, Thailand’s former three-time World Junior champion – Kunlavut Vitidsarn proved that he has transitioned to the senior level without a problem and he is undoubtedly a rising star.
Although the World No. 20 Vitidsarn needed 94 minutes to beat Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the quarter-finals on Friday, the final looked easy for the 20-year-old Vitidsarn as he made light work of World No. 12 Lakshya Sen of India, who beat the Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen, in the semi-finals on Saturday. Vitidsarn claimed the German Open title with a dominant 21-18, 21-15 victory.
Highlights of the men’s singles final:
(source: BWF)
