Ratchanok Intanon missed out on a chance to win her second title of the year when she lost to Nozomi Okuhara in a nail-biting women's singles final at the BWF Hong Kong Open yesterday.
Both players were hungry for the win, drawing level 13 times in the second game before Okuhara beat the Thai, a former world champion, 21-19, 24-22 in 64 minutes at Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon.
Ratchanok had won four of their previous five match-ups and the respect between the players was palpable, with Okuhara sharing a long embrace in her opponent's court at the end of the match.
"I feel like my performance at the moment is quite good," Ratchanok told reporters. "It was a tough game for me. It's not easy to beat her but I tried my best."
Ratchanok's only title this year was at the Malaysia Masters -- also a BWF World Tour Super 500 event -- in January.
Korean sixth seed Son Wan-Ho claimed the men's singles crown with a thrilling come-from-behind win over eighth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
A day after his shock victory over top-ranked Japanese Kento Momota, the 30-year-old Son pulled off yet another memorable performance, winning the final 14-21, 21-17, 21-13, to land his first top-flight title since the 2016 Korea Masters.
In the women's doubles decider, top-ranked Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan beat Korean challengers Lee So-Hee and Shin Seung-Chan 21-18, 21-17.
Seventh seeds Yuta Watanabe and Ariya Higashino made it a hat-trick of titles for the Japanese contingent after beating second seeds Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping of China 21-18, 21-14 in the mixed doubles final.
Top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia won back-to-back titles after cruising past fourth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan 21-13, 21-12 in the men's doubles decider.
The world No.1 pair also won in Fuzhou, China, a week ago.
Patama's delight
Badminton chief Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul congratulated Thai players, who for the first time in five years have qualified for four events at the BWF World Tour Finals 2018 to be held in Guangzhou, China, next month.
Ratchanok (women's singles), Kantaphon Wangcharoen (men's singles), Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai (women's doubles) and Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai (mixed doubles) have all booked their berths in the US$1.5 million season-ending tournament, which features only the players (top eight) with most points from that calendar year.
Patama singled out Ratchanok for praise after the 23-year-old made it to the season finale for the sixth time in seven years, saying: "That just shows her [Ratchanok's] consistency. Dechapol and Sapsiree and Jongkolphan and Rawinda have also done very well this year, while Kantaphon has improved a lot." bangkok post/afp
