Thai pair told to focus on Tokyo
Mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai have a high chance of winning an Olympic medal after reaching the All England Open final, Badminton Association of Thailand Patama Leeswadtrakul said.
The third-seeded Thais lost to Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Oktavianti 21-15, 17-21, 21-8 in final in Birmingham on Sunday.
Dechapol and Sapsiree said although they had exceeded their semi-final target, they still felt a bit disappointed.
“When you are in the final, you want to win,” said Dechapol.
With the setback, they failed to become the first Thai champions at the prestigious tournament.
“It’s a pity that they failed to make history,” Khunying Patama said.
She praised them for giving their all in the title match.
“They are now one of the top mixed doubles pairs in the world. I think they can still improve. Judging from their current form, I am confident that they will be medal contenders at the Olympics,” Patama said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying beat Chinese world No.1 Chen Yufei 21-19, 21-15 to win the All England women’s singles title for the third time.
Tai, seeded second, was on a revenge mission in Birmingham after losing last year’s final against Chen.
The 25-year-old’s previous All England titles came in 2017 and 2018 and she clinched a third in impressive style.
“I’m very excited to have won the All England,” Tai said.
“I’ve very familiar with playing against Chen as I’ve played against her so many times.
“I put her under pressure today, and I’m very happy that I was able to control the rallies well. I really like to play this tournament.”
In the men’s singles final, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen won his first All England title, beating Taiwanese top seed Chou Tien-chen 21-13, 21-14.
Axelsen lost to Kento Momota in the final last year, but the world No.7 was at his powerful best to make amends.
And 26-year-old Axelsen said it was a day he would never forget.
“This means a lot to me. It is a big dream come true and it’s up there with all my biggest achievements in my career so far,” he said after his maiden tournament win in a Super 1000 event.
“Obviously right now I’m both happy and really emotional. It’s just crazy. It’s a day I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Pre-tournament favourite Chou admitted he was below his best.
“I tried to put in a better performance but I wasn’t able to control the rallies as well as Viktor was able to,” he said.
“I didn’t play to my 100 per cent, and I didn’t expect that, but that’s the way it is.”
Japanese duo Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota stormed to the women’s doubles title, beating China’s Du Yue and Li Yinhui 21-13, 21-15.