BWF World Tour: Olympian pair beaten but several locals get past Hong Kong Open qualifiers
Women’s doubles pair Lui Lok-lok and Tsang Hiu-yan among those to start well at Hong Kong Coliseum
Hong Kong’s new women’s doubles badminton pairing of Lui Lok-lok and Tsang Hiu-yan got off to a winning start at the Hong Kong Open, to the delight of fans enjoying free admission at the Coliseum on Tuesday.
The duo came back to beat Taiwan’s Hu Ling-fang and Jheng Yu-chieh 18-21, 21-15, 21-16 in the round of 32 at the BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
Lui said she and Tsang had been nervous, which contributed to them losing the first game.
“But we rediscovered our rhythm and connected well later on,” the 21-year-old said. “It’s only our fifth or sixth tournament playing together. We’ve got to know each other better now, and it felt good to play to our standard.”
Tsang, 22, added: “We know what we are capable of, but as a new pair we need to understand each other better.”
Reaching the quarter-finals in the tour event in Taipei last week had given them a confidence boost, Lui said, adding that the pair hoped to carry that momentum into the next round, where they face third seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia.
