Gatchina: Former world No. 1 men’s pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia beat second seeds Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge of England 21-10, 21-12 in the final of ´White Nights 2015´ International Challenge, to win their second title in three tournaments since announcing their comebacks in April 2015.
After series of sub-par performances, Koo/Tan were separated by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) early 2014, and they’ve made their long-awaited return to action in this year’s Australian Open as an independent pair. Koo/Tan made their presence felt by storming into the quarter-finals in Sydney. The pair claimed the 2015 Sri Lanka International Challenge early June after they defeated their younger compatriots Chooi Kah Ming /Ow Yao Han in the men’s doubles final.
Things couldn’t have gone much better for Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong on Sunday as they carried a lot of motivation into the ´White Nights 2015´ title, defeating Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge of England in dominant fashion to lift ´White Nights 2015´ International Challenge title.
Vladimir Malkov of Russia and top seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam were neck-and-neck in the race for the men’s singles title on Sunday. Malkov eventually pulled off an amazing upset to defeat Nguyen 21-16, 21-12 to win the men’s singles title.
The Vietnamese did not leave the ´White Nights 2015´ International Challenge completely empty-handed as Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam overcame Rong Schafer of USA 21-14, 21-14 to bring home the women’s singles title.
Improving on their bronze medal finish at the recent Baku 2015 European Games, Sam Magee/Chloe Magee of Ireland battled past Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba of Poland 21-18, 21-17 to claim the ‘White Nights 2015’ mixed doubles title.
In a grueling showdown between the two top seeds in women’s doubles final, No. 1 pair Ekaterina Bolotova/Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia overcame a one set deficit to secure a hard-fought victory over Ozge Bayrak/Neslihan Yigit of Turkey 20-22, 21-13, 21-15 in 48 minutes.
