Hong Kong Racketlon players dominated the opening day of the Thailand Open Challenger.
Both the finals of the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles are being contested by all-Hong Kong players as the nation continues its Racketlon growth.
Darkness halted play in the Men’s Doubles final as Tsz Chung Chan and Steven Wai Kit Cheng took on Tze Ho Ho and Bryan Leung.
Cheng is also in the final of the Mixed Doubles alongside Tsz Yan Joyce Chan. The pair will face Kwan Wun Man and Chung Him Samuel Li on Saturday for the title.
Men’s Doubles – Former Champions Chan and Cheng Back in Final
Tsz Chung Chan and Steven Wai Kit Cheng were the inaugural Men’s Doubles Champions in the first Thailand Open Challenger back in 2017. Now, six years later, they’re back in the final.
They made it to the final after comfortably winning their two group-stage matches on Friday. Their first win came against Chung Him Samuel Li and Man Cheong Pang as they triumphed +32 before tennis.
Their second match was tougher. Chan and Cheng led by just three points after squash against Jonathan Ho and Bridge Yan Kiu Lam. However, a dominant 19-7 tennis victory sealed their spot in the final.
They would face fellow Hong Kong players Tze Ho Ho and Bryan Leung in the final. Despite both being debutants, Ho Ho and Leung won both of their matches in Group B, dropping just one game to Leigh Sands and Sathid Sijittapiban.
The final has already begun but fading light meant that the tennis will be resumed first thing on Saturday morning. We’re guaranteed a Hong Kong pair as champions, but who will it be?
The full Men’s Doubles results are available here.
Mixed Doubles – Hong Kong Showdown for Thailand Title
It’s also a Hong Kong lockout in the Mixed Doubles final. The draw is technically a Box League but with Tsz Yan Joyce Chan and Steven Wai Kit Cheng plus Kwan Wun Man and Chung Him Samuel Li both winning two matches from two on Friday, they will meet for the title on Saturday.
While both pairs recorded relatively straightforward wins over Glenda Ong and Leigh Sands, they had a much tougher time against the fourth pairing of Ho Ching Chan and Tze Ho Ho.
In fact, both victories over Chan and Ho Ho will go down as amazing comeback wins. Man and Li beat Chan and Ho by just three points, winning the tennis 21-12. The gap was even closer in the earlier match. Chan and Cheng held their nerve to win tennis 21-16, triumphing by +2 points.
After the Men’s Doubles final is completed in the morning, the Mixed Doubles title will take place. Could Steven Wai Kit Cheng pick up two titles first thing on Saturday?
The full Mixed Doubles results are available here.
Best of the Rest – Other Categories Get Underway
It wasn’t just doubles that took place in Thailand on Friday. The Seniors +40 Singles, Seniors +45 Singles and Men’s C Singles also had a handful of matches in Pattaya.
In the Seniors +45 Singles category, India’s Nikhil Bhandare is in a good position after winning two matches. Victories over Nattawee Sucandharuna and Bernhard Wiedenhofer leave him one win away from the title.
Just one match was played in each of the other two singles categories. Jonathan Ho secured a routine victory against Timothy Sze in the Men’s C Singles to get a win on the board. In the Seniors +40 Singles, top seed Christian Börner survived a scare from Adrian Ng. The German won by six points to deny Ng his first international racketlon win.
In Seniors +45 Doubles, Nikhil Bhandare and Nattawee Sucandharuna secured a scalp as they defeated top seeds Christian Börner and Frank Kleiber. The remaining matches in this category will be played on Saturday.
The full results from Friday’s Thailand Open Challenger action are available here.
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Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image / Frank Kleiber
