Lee Sheng Mu, Tsai Chia Hsin emerge as Men’s Doubles champion – Macau Open Update
Chinese Taipei’s spirited duo Lee Sheng Mu-Tsai Chia Hsin capitalised on its recent form and clutched the Men’s Doubles trophy in Kumpoo Macau Open Badminton Grand Prix Gold on December 2, 2012.
They unseated the top seeded Russian team Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov in the title match which prolonged to 41 minutes.
The underrated Taipei pair displayed great fighting spirit and locked the honour despite going down in the first set.
Sheng Mu and Chia Hsin finished this grand finale with an impressive result of 14-21, 21-17 and 21-16.
In the opening game, Vladimir and Ivan looked in prime touch as they did not show any sign of confusion and kept their rivals under control.
They made their intentions clear by clinching four consecutive points in the beginning and then made the best out of this advantage to place a decent total of 11 before the interval.
The Russian campaigners fought hard and managed keep their opponents close after the mid-game break.
The twosome of Sheng Mu-Chia Hsin was not prepared for this invasion as they knelt down tamely with 14-21 score on the board.
However, the Taipei duo did not lose heart after first set loss and made amends by winning very next game.
They played cautiously in the establishing rallies and this careful approach resulted in 3-4 margin. At this stage, they bagged a few valuable points in a row and strengthened their grip over the game.
Next couple of rallies saw them losing focus which allowed Vladimir-Ivan to place a respectable figure of 11.
Both contenders matched each other’s skills in latter part of the game and this cliff-hanging tussle ended when Sheng Mu-Chia Hsin registered a winning total of 21-17.
Third set was expected to be a nerve-racking contest as both teams were equal on the points table.
They strived hard to claim this final match point and earned a great deal of admiration for putting up an honest effort.
The match kept swinging between them until the third quarter of the set but finally the Taipei shuttlers struck hard and tipped the scale in their favour.
They placed an overwhelming margin of 21-16 and reserved their right to be on top of the victory stand.
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