“LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2025 part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500” kicked off at the Hong Kong Coliseum on Tuesday with home players getting a flying start in the qualifiers through upcoming Jason Gunawan and 2024 Paris Olympian Lo Sin Yan Happy.
With the support from his parents who watched from the spectator stand, Gunawan thrashed World Championships bronze medallist Victor Lai of Canada 21-12, 21-15 to reach the Men’s Singles main round while Lo also cruised through with a 21-13, 21-13 victory over Hung Yi-Ting of Chinese Taipei for a spot in the Women’s Singles main draw.
In the Mixed Doubles, two home pairs Cheung Sai Shing/Chu Wing Chi and Hung Kuei Chun/Tsang Hiu Yan were joined by Women’s Doubles combination of Au Yeung Wing Chi and Ip Sum Yau for the main draw after their respective wins over fellow home players.
The focus of the morning qualifiers came in the clash between home favourite Gunawan and Lai, who snatched a bronze medal in the recent Worlds in Paris. 21-year-old Gunawan reached the quarter-finals last year but had to start from the qualifiers where he made no mistake with a 21-15, 21-13 win over Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah of Malaysia in his first encounter before meeting Lai, who beat Pui Pang Fong of Macau 21-10, 22-20 in another match.
At 20, Lai trains at domestic club Mandarin and his world ranking surged to 35 after his historic performance for Canada in the Worlds. In fact, both Lai’s parents are from Hong Kong and the young gun is trained by former Hong Kong, China coach Chen Hong and Cathy Chau Hoi Wah, who captured a Mixed Doubles bronze medal for Hong Kong at the 2017 Worlds.
With strong support from the crowd, Gunawan fired every cylinder from the beginning in his first competitive match against Lai as he built a10-2 lead in the opening stages. Lai closed the gap to 7-11 before the break but could do little to stop the opponent as Gunawan took the first game 21-12. There was little change in the second as the home player led 11-5 in the first half before wrapping the tie with another 21-15 victory for a berth in the main draw where Gunawan will face Alwi Farhan of Indonesia, the world number 22.
“The first round match against Farhan won’t be easy but I feel quite confident at the moment and hopefully with the help of the home ground advantage and my good form, I can make it.”
In the Women’s Singles qualifiers, home favourite Lo Sin Yan Happy, who ranks 51st in the world and a 2024 Paris Olympian, was in full control against her Chinese Taipei opponent Hung, who ranks eight places behind her. Lo only needed 28 minutes before sealing a 21-13, 21-13 victory to reach the main round where she will meet top seed Wang Zhi Yi of China.
“I was a bit tensed of playing at home and the performance was not too good, a bit conservative. This was the first match and it always takes time to adapt to the conditions, hopefully I can get better as the tournament goes on and get a better result of reaching the round of 32 of last year,” Lo said.
Returning to the Coliseum where fans kept shouting “good shot, Happy”, Lo was a bit surprised to find so many people come to watch her game in a weekday morning. “I did not expect too see such a big crowd as I thought they would have to go to work but I love to hear their support. In fact my mother chose not to come as she is always tense than me when watching my game.”
There were mixed results for the home teams in the doubles. In the two Mixed Doubles qualifiers where both matches were all-Hong Kong affairs, the winners both needed three games to finish off their opponents. The pair of Cheung Sai Shing/Chu Wing Chi defeated Lui Chun Wai and Leung Yuet Yee 23-21, 15-21, 21-15 while Hung Kuei Chun and Tsang Hiu Yan also disposed compatriots Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Yau Man Ying 21-18, 13-21, 21-19. In the Women’s Doubles, Au Yeung Wing Chi and Ip Sum Yau had an easy win over compatriots Chen Anni and Zhan Man Ki with a 21-7, 21-12 win and will now meet sixth seeds Chiharu Shida and Arisa Igarashi of Japan in the opening round.
After his defeat in the Mixed Doubles, Lui Chun Wai suffered another early exit in the Men’s Doubles where he and partner Hung Kuei Chun lost in their first qualifying match to Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal of Malaysia after a 19-21, 21-23 defeat. Both players were surprised to find the opportunity of playing in the qualifiers as a last-minute replacement. Hung said, “We both had to play in the Mixed Doubles and there was only an one-match break for me before the Men’s Doubles. As a result, my fitness condition was affected and we both failed to handle the big points and receiving serves.”
The pair has worked together for one year until early this year and did not join forces again until the Macau Open in July. They then reached the round of 32 at the World Championships in Paris and now rank 87th in the world. “The results in Paris made us believe in ourselves as we have never thought we could be that close against other top players. We will keep our strong mental power of challenging the top players and hopefully we can improve our world rankings,” both players said.
