Korea's of Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae in action at the 2019 Chinese Taipei Open (Photo by De-Shao Liu)
There was no stopping Korea’s formidable men’s doubles pair of Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae at the Japan Masters badminton championships.
The top ranked pair cemented their stature, with a hard earned 20-22, 21-11,21-16 win over Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei-Yamashita in the men’s doubles final.
It was the reigning world champion’s 10th title of an incredible season that also saw them winning the Malaysian Open, German Open. All England, Indonesian Open, Japan Open, Korean Open, French Open and the China Masters.
Their tenth victory of the season sees them going one better than teammate An Se-young, who did not participate in Japan due to health reasons.
The Korean pair were beaten in the Round of 16 of the Denmark Open, but bounced back to win the French Open. They will now start off as the firm favourites to add the BWF World Tour Finals in December.
Malaysia’s World No. 2 ranked women’s doubles pair of Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah defeated home pair Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 22-20, 21-19 in the final.
It was a repeat of the Arctic Open final but this time, the contest was far closer as Pearly-Thinaah had to work hard before securing victory after a 54-minute battle.
This is also the Malaysian pair’s third title of the season following their win at the Thailand Open in May.
In the mixed doubles, Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran clinched their fifth title of the season, defeating The French duo of Thom Gicquel-Delphione Delrue 21-18, 14-21, 21-18.
The Thai pair, ranked third in the world, have now won five titles this season including the Malaysian Open, Singapore Open, Thailand Masters and China Masters crowns.
Gicquel-Delrue had beaten the Thai pair for the Indonesian Open title earlier this year but the defeat today was their third to Puavaranukroh-Paewsampran.
Thailand also won the women’s singles final with Ratchanok Intanon edging out Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-16, 22-20. It was her first title since winning the Indonesian Masters in January.
Ratchanok had crashed out in the first round of both her latest appearances at the Denmark Open and France Open.
Japan won their solitary title at their home tournament after Kodai Naraoka defeated veteran countryman Kenta Nishimoto 21-11, 10-21, 21-15 for his first title of the season.
RESULTS
Men’s singles: Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-11, 10-21, 21-15
Men’s doubles: Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae (Kor) bt Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei-Yamashita (Jpn) 20-22, 21-11, 21-16
Women’s singles: Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Ina) 21-16, 22-20
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) 22-20, 21-19
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphione Delrue (Fra) 21-18, 14-21, 21-18
