Bangkok: Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing have clinched their second international title of 2016 after defeating Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong in straight sets, 21-16, 22-20 in the Thailand Open final on Sunday.
Tan/Lai got off to a slow start in the first set before the Malaysians started to widen the gap between themselves and the Hong Kong pair to 19-10. The second set was a nail-biting and closely contested affair in which Tan/Lai had to work extra hard, fought back from 8-16 to tie the game at 17-17. However, the Hong Kong pair grabbed the upper hand by holding the game point with 20-19 before Tan/Lai dug deep into their bag of tricks to bite back and reel off three points in a row to capture the mixed doubles title in 39 minutes.
Tan/Lai were able to bag their first ever international title at the Vietnam Open in July.
In men’s singles, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about as he showed off his strong form to overcome No. 2 seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia with 21-15, 21-16 in the men’s singles final that was held at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok.
However, another Thai ace Busanan Ongbamrungphan couldn’t add more smiles to the face of the home crowd as the No. 3 seed lost to the unseeded Japanese player Aya Ohori of Japan 23-25, 8-21 in the women’s singles final.
Earlier that day, No. 1 seeds Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai won the women’s doubles after seeing off No. 5 seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-12, 21-17 of Japan in 58 minutes.
Despite disappointment in the men’s singles final, Indonesia managed to bring home the men’s doubles title after No. 2 seeds Berry Angriawan and Rian Agung Saputro came back from a set down to beat unseeded Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko of Japan 17-21, 21-14, 21-18 in a 60 minutes match.
The Thailand Open GPG offers total prize money of US$120,000.
