Hu Zhean
China and Korea shared the honours at the Macau Open badminton championships. Former world junior champion Hu Zhean was among the three winners for China while Korea grabbed two titles.
Nineteen-year-old Zhean, a two-time Asian Junior champion, clinched his biggest title on the BWF Tour after defeating Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 11-21, 21-10, 21-13.
The one-hour triumph in the BWF Super 300 men’s singles final was only his second on the Tour. He had won the lower ranked China Masters two years ago.
Zhean had also beaten Kantaphon in their only previous meeting at the Badminton Asia Team Championships last month.
Chinese shuttlers also won the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles titles.
Bao Lijing-Cao Zihan defeated teammates Chen Fan Shutian-Liu Jiayue 21-18, 21-10 in an all-Chinese women’s doubles final.
Mixed doubles top seeds Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin kept true to their status by beating Hong Kong’s Chan Yin Chak-Ng Tsz Yau 21-14, 21-14.
Korean veteran Kim Ga-eun, the women’s singles top seed, clinched her fifth Tour title and the first this season by defeating her compatriot Park Ga-eun 21-16, 21-13.
True to their formidable strength in the men’s doubles, unseeded Jin Yong-Lee Jong-min claimed Korea’s second title in Macau by upstaging fourth seeded Indonesiasn Ali Faathir Rayhan-Devin Artha Wahyudi 18-21, 21-19, 21-10.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Hu Zhean (Chn) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Tha) 11-21, 21-10, 21-13
Men’s doubles: Jin Yong-Lee Jong-min (Kor) bt Ali Faathir Rayhan-Devin Artha Wahyudi (Ina) 18-21, 21-19, 21-10
Women’s singles: Kim Ga-eun (Kor) bt Park Ga-eun (Kor) 21-16, 21-13
Women’s doubles: Bao Lijing-Cao Zihan (Chn) bt Chen Fan Shutian-Liu Jiayue (Chn) 21-18, 21-10
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Chan Yin Chak-Ng Tsz Yau (Hkg) 21-14, 21-14
