Piers Boden and Sin Yee Simmy Chung have been crowned the CHA Thailand Open elite singles champions.
Boden defeated India’s Sidharth Nandal in a high-quality final to win the first elite singles title of his career.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles, Simmy Chung completed a perfect weekend, winning the title to go alongside her Mixed Doubles title won on Friday with Kevin Ho Ching Ng.
Men’s Singles: Boden Announces His Return
As a former World No.16, it’s little surprise to see Piers Boden flourishing at the top of the game. But the youngster has had a tough time of it. A serious knee injury at the end of the 2017 season ruled him out for the entirety of 2018. In 2019 he tentatively returns, but focused solely on junior events, easing him back into racketlon life. One tournament back into the adult game and his path has proved fruitful.
In the final, Boden found himself against Sidharth Nandal. The Indian reached the final by eliminating No.2 seed Kevin Ho Ching Ng and No.3 seed Patrick Moran, an eye-catching run.
Every set in the final was closely fought. Boden took early control of the match with a 21-17 table tennis victory. Nandal battled back though, winning the badminton 21-15 in a seriously high-quality match.
The squash was perhaps the most important set from Boden’s point-of-view. The Brit managed to open up a crucial lead, winning 21-13 to lead by six heading into tennis. Knowing he needed just 16 in tennis, Boden had the advantage.
That didn’t make the tennis any tighter though. The two were neck-and-neck throughout, with Nandal just unable to pull ahead enough. In the end, Boden reached the 16 points he needed with the score at 16-17, a wayward backhand from Nandal gifting Boden the title.
Few players have been through the injury setbacks that Boden has suffered in such a young career and that win will mean an awful lot to him. He now heads to India for the first CHA Indian Open where he’ll be hoping to replicate his success. Nandal will also be in India, where the two could possibly meet once again.
Australia’s Leigh Sands took bronze after beating America’s Patrick Moran before tennis.
Women’s Singles: Sin Yee Simmy Chung Completes Perfect Debut
Sin Yee Simmy Chung had done most of her hard work on Saturday. By winning her opening two matches against Glenda Ong and Julia Schirutschke, Simmy Chung had already secured the title. But after winning four-out-of-four matches on her debut, she wanted to continue her perfect run.
On the final day, she would face fellow Hong Kong player Tung Yu Yip. As has been the case all week, Chung’s table tennis gave her a huge headstart, a 21-2 victory ensuring that. Unlike her other matches though, Chung did not lose another set.
The Hong Kong star won a hard-fought badminton 21-19, ensuring all of her badminton sets eventually went to deuce. A 21-14 squash win guaranteed Chung the win, leaving her +28 before tennis.
While Chung is not heading to the CHA Indian Open, we hope to see a lot more of the table tennis expert on this year’s tour. She has had a debut to remember and we hope to see her test herself at more tournaments in the future.
Top seed Glenda Ong finished in second after beating Julia Schirutschke on the final day. Schirutschke ended up in third.
A report will be released soon covering the other singles categories at the CHA Thailand Open.
The full results from the CHA Thailand Open are available here.
You can also check out the tournament reports from day one and day two.
The full 2020 FIR World Tour and Challengers are available here, with all tournaments open to anyone from around the world.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Frank Kleiber
