Women’s Singles
It was a hectic month for the first seed and world number 58 from Chinese Taipei, Sung Shuo Yun, competing for a fourth consecutive week, having played in Belgium, Poland, Canada and now Sydney. Her journey boasts an upward trend, achieving one better each week. Starting out as a quarterfinalist in Belgium (International Challenge), semifinalist in Poland (International Series), finalist in Canada (BWF World Tour 100) and winner at the YONEX Sydney International 2022 (International Series).
Her opponent, fourth seed and fellow compatriot Chen Su Yu, started the morning well after seizing the first game. However, a fired up Sung returned to the court with a determined spirit to push the match into a deciding third game – much to the dismay of Chen who had to endure three, three-game victories on route to the final. With more energy at her disposal, Sung pulled through to take the first title in Sydney.
- Sung Shuo Yun (TPE)[1] vs Chen Su Yu (TPE)[4] 17-21 21-16 21-14
“I’m feeling very happy to have won this tournament. I feel like I am playing better and better each week and feeling less pressure. Chen has played long matches in the lead up the final, including two yesterday so I think she was a bit slow going into it,” said Sung Shuo Yun.
Mixed Doubles
Chen Xin-Yuan is no stranger to the stage in Sydney, having won the men’s doubles title in the 2019 edition. Although he was defeated in the first round of the mixed doubles back then, he returned to take the mixed doubles title in 2022, alongside Yang Ching Tun. Yang is no stranger to the international stage either, currently ranked 100 in the world with Lee Yang (Men’s Doubles Champion at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games). However, she has competed in a handful of tournaments this year with three different partners, finding a great synergy with Chen this week to see them past two of the top three seeds and towards the gold medal.
- Chen Xin-Yuan/Yang Ching Tun (TPE) vs Po Li-Wei/Chang Ching Hui (TPE) 21-19 21-15
“We’ve facing a lot of the top seeds and we have been able to adjust to the situation better than our opponents,” said Yang Ching Tun.
“We have adjusted to the game and moved well together this week. Also, we have always been prepared for our next match or competition,” said Chen Xin-Yuan
Men’s Singles
Singapore’s Jia Wei Joel Koh finally got the break he has been waiting for at the YONEX Sydney International 2022. First off, he produced one of his greatest wins by defeating the top seed and world number 58 from Canada, Jason Ho-Shue. The next day, he returned to the court as the underdog once again against the second seed from Chinese Taipei, Lin Chun-Yu, who is riding on the back of two International Challenge victories this year already (Mongolia and Belgium).
In the first game, Lin was driving deep into the four corners of the court to find the gaps and take a comfortable one game lead. Learning from his errors, the Singaporean returned to the court to match the pace set by his seeded superior, forcing a decider. However, the momentum fell back into Lin’s lap who took complete control of the court to seize the gold medal.
- Lin Chun-Yi (TPE)[2] vs Jia Wei Joel Koh (SGP)[7] 21-11 12-21 21-10
“I am feeling good and it feels nice to be back here after five years [since last playing in Australia]. In the first game, I played really fast and Jia Wei didn’t adapt quick enough until the second game so I had to change my way of playing again to manage to win. I am here to work on my ranking as I will work hard to qualify for the 2024 Olympics,” said Lin.
Women’s Doubles
Sung Shuo Yun’s impressive run in Sydney extended into the women’s doubles as she claimed her second title alongside Yu Chien Hui. Their opponents, Chang and Yang, found themselves on opposite sides of the net in the earlier mixed doubles final, but neither were able to breakthrough the wall built by Sung and Yu who used the fitness from their singles games to their advantage as pair.
- Sung Shuo Yun/Yu Chien Hui (TPE) vs Chang Ching Hui/Yang Ching Tun (TPE)[2] 21-16 21-11
“As singles players as well, we have reduced the chances of making failures and we can run around the court better,” said Yu Chien Hui.
“From here, we plan to continue working hard on both our singles and doubles games,” said Sung.
Men’s Doubles
Finally, Canadian top seeds Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura were tasked with the challenge of denying Chinese Taipei a clean sweep in Sydney. However, the second seeds Lee and Lee had different plans as they walked onto court determined to claim the remaining gold medal.
Lee and Lee were fast off the mark, opening with a relentless attack and barely letting the Canadians into the first game. Adam and Nyl turned the momentum around in the second game to bring the score back level, but were not able to maintain the attack in the decider as the pair from Chinese Taipei smashed their way through to the finish line.
- Fang-Chih Lee/Fang-Jen Lee (TPE)[2] vs Adam (Xingyu) Dong/Nyl Yakura (CAN)[1] 21-12 16-21 21-16
“We are very happy about it. Like for everyone, it’s been three years of no competition so we also felt a bit nervous,” said Fang-Jen Lee.
“We tried to attack more and whenever we could in the third game to win. We knew that our fellow teammates all won, so we felt like the pressure to win as we know people always remember the champions,” said Fang-Chih Lee.
A further breakdown and statistics are available on Tournament Software – click here to view.
All five matches were available to watch on the live stream and will remain on Badminton Oceania’s YouTube Channel after the competition. Click here to watch.
Photos, videos and more content from the finals are available to view on Badminton Oceania’s Facebook page. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #SydneyInternational22
Article adapted from the Badminton Oceania website.