Dubai: Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi ended the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships with another strong performance, despite not being able to clinch the men’s doubles title by losing to India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty 21-16, 17-21, 19-21 in the final on Sunday.
Highlights of Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi vs. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty in the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships final:
The fact that they beat World No. 1 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto 22-20, 21-15 in the quarter-finals and the 2021 men’s doubles world champions Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi in the semi-finals, we should give Ong/Teo a lot of credit for showing toughness and better consistency.
In the final, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi showed a glimpse of a playing style very similar to Indonesia’s former World No. 1 pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, except, Ong/Teo have the better defense. If they could work on their speed, consistency and improve their offense, Ong/Teo could be a very dangerous men’s pair and could move up the BWF rankings very quickly.
Highlights of Anthony Sinisuka Ginting vs. Loh Kean Yew in the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships final:
The men’s singles final saw Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia needed only 29 minutes to ease past Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew 21-12, 21-8. For Loh who won the World Championships in December 2021, he missed another opportunity to break the championships drought for nearly a year and a half after clinching the world title.
In women’s singles, Tai Tzu Ying who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, also easily defeated Korea’s World No. 2 An Se Young 21-10, 21-14 to win her third BAC title. With the win, Tai became the fourth women’s singles player and the first non-China or Hong Kong player to have clinched three or more BAC titles. China’s Ye Zhaoying had won the tournament 5 times, and Wang Yihan and Hong Kong’s Wang Chen have each won three BAC championships.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota overcame Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee of Korea 21-7, 21-14 for the women’s doubles trophy while China’s World No. 21 Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin pulled off an upset to see off compatriots and World No. 1 Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong 21-15, 21-16 in the mixed doubles final.
