Malaysia Open: Tang Chun-man, Tse Ying-suet bow out with chastening defeat in mixed doubles quarter-finals

Hong Kong’s No 1 mixed doubles pair Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet suffered a chastening defeat in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open on Friday.

The duo were outclassed against top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, losing 21-13, 21-14 in just 38 minutes.

“Their ages aren’t that different, but we could see our pair’s speed has a lot of room to improve, and in the rallies, we didn’t have the same consistency as our opponents, which is the main reason for our failure today,” head coach Tim He Yiming said.

“However, this is only one match. I’m hoping they can improve in the next two tournaments.”

It was a fifth defeat in six encounters with the Thai pairing for Tokyo Olympics semi-finalists Tang and Tse, whose only win against them came in the 2018 Asian Games quarter-finals.

The Hong Kong pair had only just returned to action together after withdrawing from a tournament in Indonesia last month, when Tse tested positive for Covid-19