Badminton: Tang Jie-Ee Wei show they’re hot stuff in Finland with stunner

PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are running hot at the moment in the Arctic Open.

World No. 9 Tang Jie-Ee Wei pulled off one of the biggest wins of their careers when they stunned Thailand’s 2021 world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21-14, 21-17 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals at the Energia Arena in Vantaa, Finland, yesterday.

It was one of Tang Jie-Ee Wei’s best displays since they were combined last December.

It was also sweet revenge for the fast-rising duo after they had lost out to the Thai world No. 5 pair at the same stage at the Malaysian Open in January.

National mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto was delighted with the win.

“Of course it’s good to see Tang Jie and Ee Wei beat this strong Thai pair.

“Looking at their performance from the start of the game, I was confident that they will win,” said Nova.

Tang Jie-Ee Wei now have a good opportunity to capture their maiden World Tour Super 500 title in the absence of several top pairs.

China’s reigning Asian Games gold medallists and world No. 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong, Japan’s world No. 2 Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino and South Korea’s world champions Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung had all decided to skip the tournament.

Previously, Tang Jie-Ee Wei had captured two Super 300 titles – the Orleans Masters in April and Taiwan Open in June.

The pair though have a tricky task next against China’s world No. 6 Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin.

Indonesian Nova urged Tang Jie-Ee Wei to maintain their focus.

“If they can be consistent, they can go further,” said Nova.

“They need to take it step by step and don’t think about becoming champions just yet.”

Tang Jie-Ee Wei had come out on top against Zhenbang-Yaxin in their only meeting so far en-route to their triumph in the Orleans Masters.

Meanwhile, it was also joy in the men’s singles for world No. 19 Ng Tze Yong after he toppled China’s world No. 12 Lu Guangzu 21-11, 21-18 to make it into the last four.

Tze Yong has now reached his second semi-finals of the year after the Hong Kong Open in Kowloon last month.

The 23-year-old will play either Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama or another Chinese player Lei Lanxi for a place in the final.

RESULTS

(Malaysians only)

Second round

Men’s doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall (Sco) 21-17, 21-14; Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi (Jpn) 22-20, 20-22, 21-19.

Women’s doubles: Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) bt Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing 21-13, 21-13.

Mixed doubles: Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau (Hkg) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-10, 21-17.

Quarter-finals

Men’s singles: Ng Tze Yong bt Lu Guangzu (Chn) 21-11, 21-18.

Mixed doubles: Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) 21-14, 21-17; Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) bt Cheng Xing-Chen Fanghui (Chn) 21-13, 16-21, 21-18; Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje (Den) 19-21, 21-14, ret.