Breeze for Olympic champ Marin as Angus Ng leads HK charge in Bangkok
Sports | 14 Jan 2021Spain's Carolina Marin sailed through the Thailand Open badminton first round, six months before her Olympic title defense.
The former world No 1 made short work of France's 37th-ranked Qi Xuefei, winning the first game in just 15 minutes before sealing it 21-10, 21-12. "I feel really happy to be back on court after some months without tournaments. I have really missed it a lot," said the 27-year-old Marin.
The Thailand Open is the first of three consecutive restart tournaments in Bangkok as badminton resumes after a coronavirus-ravaged 2020.
In men's singles, Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka-long, seeded seventh, opened his campaign with a 21-15, 21-15 win over the Netherlands' Mark Caljouw.
Lee Cheuk-yiu joined Ng in the next round by beating New Zealand's Abhinav Manota 21-13, 21-17.
Mixed doubles pair Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-Suet won over India's Sumeeth and Sikki Reddy 22-20, 21-17.
Today's Standard
