India Open: Lee Cheuk Yiu beats defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn
New Delhi: India Open: Lee Cheuk Yiu beats defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu led the underdog’s march into the second round of the India Open 2024 with a win over defending men’s singles champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.
Lee came back from a game down to defeat reigning world champion Kunlavut 16-21, 22-20, 23-21 in one hour and 22 minutes in the Super 750 meet organized by the Badminton Association of India.
Former world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and All England champion Li Shi Feng of China also faced defeat in the morning session.
Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan defeated Yamaguchi 21-11, 21-19 while Japan’s Koke Watanabe defeated third-seeded Feng 14-21, 21-13, 21-9.
But the star of the morning session was undoubtedly Lee Cheuk Yiu, with the way he fought against Kunlawut. After losing the first game, the Hong Kong shuttler looked dejected and out of form when he was trailing 6-12 in the second game, but he turned the situation around by winning six consecutive points to level the score at 12-12 and then played the deciding game .
The third and final game followed the same pattern and Kunlawut took a 16–9 lead. After this, Lee scored 10 consecutive points and then earned two game points at 20-18. The Thai player managed to save a total of three match points before the Hong Kong shuttler ended the match.
In other women’s singles matches, defending champion An-Se Young of South Korea had to work hard to win 21-19, 14-21, 21-14 over Beiwen Zhang of America.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and two-time World Championships bronze medalist He Bing Jao of China also registered easy wins over their respective opponents.
Tai defeated Supanida Katethong 21-12, 21-11 while He Bing Jao defeated Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-6, 21-11.
