Fiery form: Choong Hon Jian (right) and Haikal Nazri wll meet Indonesia’s world No. 49 Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza in the final.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri are starting to find their feet again after a slow start to the year.
World No. 40 Hon Jian-Haikal stormed into the final of the Orleans Masters after ousting Denmark’s world No. 46 Andreas Sondergaard-Jesper Toft 21-18, 21-16 in just 37 minutes on Saturday.
The youngsters will take on Indonesia’s world No. 49 Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza for the title.
It will be Haikal-Hon Jian’s first individual tournament final since capturing the back-to-back Syed Modi International and Indian Masters titles at the end of last year.
The pair were hoping to build on their success but had a frustrating start to the year after going down to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard in the second round of the Indonesian Masters in January. Haikal then suffered an ankle injury in the Thailand Masters and had to retire along with Hon Jian from their opening match against South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Na Sung-seung.
The 21-year-old recovered in time for the Asia Team Championships last month in Shah Alam and was part of the team with Hon Jian that finished runners-up to China.
Haikal-Hon Jian, who were only combined last August due to a partnership reshuffle in the national team, now have the opportunity to win their third title together.
Haikal did reach the final in Orleans in 2022 with his partner at that time, Wan Arif Wan Junaidi but was forced to concede a walkover against Dutch pair Ruben Jille-Ties Van Der Lecq after he tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the match.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin agonisingly missed out on their first World Tour tournament final after going down fighting 24-22, 16-21, 25-27 to China’s Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi in a pulsating 78-minute match.
Despite the defeat, Pang Ron-Su Yin can still walk tall after their battling showing.
The pair will next turn their attentions to the Swiss Open starting tomorrow in Basel.
SEMi-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Yushi Tanaka (Jpn) bt Lei Lanxi (Chn) 19-21, 21-19, 21-15; Koo Takahashi (Jpn) bt Chi Yu-jen (Tpe) 21-19, 21-12.
Men’s doubles: Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri (Mas) bt Andreas Sondergaard-Jesper Toft (Den) 21-18, 21-16; Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza (Ina) bt Chen Zhi-ray-Lin Yu-chieh (Tpe) 21-17, 23-21.
Women’s singles: Hina Akechi (Jpn) bt Manami Suizu (Jpn) 21-11,21-15; Tomoko Miyazaki (Jpn) bt Chen Lu (Chn) 5-10, ret.
Women’s doubles: Rui Hirokami-Yuna Kato (Jpn) bt Margot Lambert-Anne Tran (Fra) 13-21, 21-18, 21-18; Meilysa Trias-Rachel Allessya (Ina) bt Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 16-21, 21-19, 21-19.
Mixed doubles: Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) bt Hoo Pang Ron- Cheng Su Yin (Mas) 22-24, 21-16, 27-25; Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas (Ina) bt Mads Vestergaard-Christine Busch (Den) 21-11, 22-20.
