Tough foes: Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in action against Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei during the China Masters mixed doubles final yesterday. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles shuttlers Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei’s world champion tag does not guarantee an easy ride at the SEA Games.
And the pair were reminded of the work ahead after losing 8-21, 17-21 to Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsam–pran in the China Masters final at the Shenzhen Arena yesterday.
The fight for supremacy in the SEA region is expected to be between Malaysia and hosts Thailand, who will be banking on their homeground advantage. Indonesian pairs could also add spice although their standards have dropped this year.
Dechapol has won the SEA Games gold with Sapsiree Taerattanachai at the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur while Tang Jie won the gold with Peck Yen Wei in the biennial Games in Vietnam in 2021.
Tang Jie and Ee Wei have accepted that their new status as world champions cuts both ways. Although they are confident, the pair are wary of the pressure that comes with it as well.
“The Thais started very well. Their strategy and movement was good,” said Tang Jie in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We tried to play better in the second game and make it more difficult for them to get points but our form was not good today (yesterday).”
Tang Jie-Ee Wei appeared as though they had run out steam and that was understandable as they had gone through a gruelling 80-minute match against world No. 1 and home stars Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping in the semi-finals on Saturday. The Malaysians could not lift their game while the Thais played brilliantly to come away with the win in just 35 minutes.
The defeat was their fourth against the Thais in the past five meetings.
Ee Wei said that she was struggling with a back injury but refused to give excuses for the defeat.
“In one of the previous matches, I injured my back but I don’t want to give any excuses,” said Ee Wei. “Our tactics did not work today (yesterday). That was the main problem.”
Ee Wei also insisted that she and Tang Jie were unfazed by the pressure that came with being world champions.
“Past is past. We never thought that we were the world champions when we started playing in this tournament,” said Ee Wei.
“There’s still lots to learn from top pairs. When we enter the court, we try to fight and put pressure on opponents. We don’t want to think about our status as world champions.”
Tang Jie-Ee Wei can still be proud of their efforts after making it into a World Tour Super 750 final for the first time.
It was also the pair’s first World Tour final since they claimed the Korean Open title a year ago.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei have vowed to learn from the loss to Dechapol-Supissara and return stronger.
“We will analyse this match and try to adjust our strategy as fast as possible,” said Tang Jie.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei do not have much time to rest as they head to Suwon next for the Korean Open starting tomorrow.
RESULTS
Final
Men’s singles: Weng Hongyang (Chn) bt Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) 21-11, 21-15.
Men’s doubles: Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) 21-19, 21-15.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Han Yue (Chn) 21-11, 21-3.
Women’s doubles: Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) bt Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 21-19, 16-21, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) 21-8, 21-17.
Semi-finals
Men’s singles: Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) bt Anders Antonsen (Den) 21-19, 21-14.
Men’s doubles: Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri (Ina) 21-13, 21-17.
