China’s Huan Xia and Tang Jinhua clinch their first Super Series title – Badminton news
China’s Women’s Doubles pair of Huan Xia and Tang Jinhua made their presence felt at the world stage after they clinched their first major title by beating senior team-mates, Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli in the Women’s Doubles final of the 2011 China Masters
Super Series, in China, on Sunday, September 18.
The 19-year-old duo of Xia and Jinhua played impressive badminton in all of their matches in the previous rounds and powered their way into the final of the event to face compatriots and World Number One pair of Yang and Xiaoli.
After winning the final match, Jinhua said, “This tournament is a good training process to us, we could learn from so many tough opponents. We are young, so we just keep a learning attitude and try our best in every match.”
In the Women’s Doubles opening round of China Masters, Xia and Jinhua thrashed Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa of India, who won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships in London, last month. In the second round, the Chinese teenagers crushed Japan’s
Satoko Suetsuna and Miyuki Maeda, who were the second seed of the Women’s Doubles draw of the tournament.
In the Women’s Doubles quarter-final battle, Xia and Jinhua played to their full potential and won the three-set fight against higher ranked team-mates, Shu Cheng and Pan Pan, who were seeded at number eight in the draw.
In the semi-final showdown, the spirited Chinese pair continued their roller coaster run in the tournament and defeated another higher ranked Japanese pair of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa, who were the third seeds in the China Masters.
In the final of the China Masters, Xia and Jinhua were taking on their team-mates and world’s top pair of Yang and Xiaoli. The higher ranked shuttlers were carrying injuries all the way through to the final of the event.
The lower ranked Chinese pair took the opening game from the top seeds and in the second game, the World Number One pair could not continue to fight and quit from the match, handing the title to the young duo of Xia and Jinhua.
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