Pictured: Abhinav Manota, New Zealand. Photo Credit: Mel Walsh
The men’s singles draw got a rude awakening on day two as the first seed from Canada (Jason Ho-Shue) was knocked out. At first it seemed like Ho-Shue had the game in the bag as he held a substantial lead throughout the opener. However, Wu Cheng-En (Chinese Taipei) kept the match in closer contention upon his return to court, enjoying a five-point run from 18-14 down to steal the lead and force a decider where he took the Tokyo Olympian by surpise.
- Wu Cheng-En (TPE) vs Jason Anthony Ho-Shue (CAN)[1] 13-21 21-19 21-14
All eyes remained on court one afterwards as a repeat of this year’s VICTOR Oceania Championships quarterfinal followed – Abhinav Manota (New Zealand) and Nathan Tang (Australia). At the time, Manota was the reigning Continental Champion and top seed, but Tang put a firm end to his title defense campaign and went on to become a finalist himself.
Determined not to let history repeat itself, Abhinav conjured a relentless attack to seek revenge and booked his spot in the men’s singles last 16 – becoming the last player from Oceania to do so, following the valiant efforts of some fellow compatriots and neighbouring Australians.
- Abhinav Manota (NZL)[4] vs Nathan Tang (AUS) 21-15 21-11
- Liao Jhuo-Fu (TPE) vs Athi Selladurai (AUS) 11-21 21-15 22-20
- Chen Chi Ting (TPE)[6] vs Ricky Cheng (NZL) 21-14 21-18
- Riki Takei (JPN) vs Edward Lau (NZL) 21-19 21-16
There was little rest for Abhinav, who is also a two-time and reigning Oceania men’s doubles champion, having won this year’s with Jack Wang. Today, the pair brought their same form to Badminton North Harbour across two matches to book their space in tomorrow’s quarterfinals and aid their Oceania Tour campaign. The stars must be aligned for Abhinav as he quadrupled his success rate following a later men’s singles win to secure another quarterfinal match tomorrow.
- Abhinav Manota/Jack Wang (NZL) vs Julian Lee/Ken Richardson (AUS) 21-10 21-14
- Abhinav Manota/Jack Wang (NZL) vs Athi Selladurai/Niccolo Tagle (AUS/NZL) 21-10 21-11
- Abhinav Manota (NZL) vs Chang Shih-Chieh (TPE) 21-16 21-19
Oceania’s mixed doubles champions, Kenneth Choo and Gronya Somerville, booked their slot in tomorrow’s quarterfinal following a consistent performance this afternoon. Meanwhile, seven-time Oceania champion and fourth seed Wendy Chen was narrowly defeated in the women’s singles round of 16 – a loss which she later made up for as she ousted the second seeds in the women’s doubles alongside Gronya Somerville.
- Kenneth Choo/Gronya Somerville (AUS) vs Yap Juin An/Karupathevan Letshanaa (MAS) 21-16 21-15
- Gronya Somerville/Wendy Chen (AUS) vs Yujia Jin/Jia Ying Crystal Wong (SGP)[2] 21-17 21-5
- Kuo Yen Chi (TPE) vs Wendy Chen (AUS)[4] 21-11 14-21 22-20
Also making miraculous recoveries, the mixed and women’s doubles first seeds from Canada had to make dramatic changes to their game plan to live up to their seeding for at least one more day.
- Ty Lindeman/Josephine Wu (CAN)[1] vs Fang-Chih Lee/Sun Wei Pei (TPE) 21-19 9-21 21-16
- Catherine Choi/Josephine Wu (CAN)[1] vs Yi En Hsieh/Jheng Yu Chieh (TPE) 17-21 21-12 21-15
The men’s singles wasn’t the only discipline to witness a major casualty on day two, as the first seed was knocked out of the women’s singles later in the afternoon too. World number 49 from USA, Lauren Lam, was narrowly edged out by Yu Chien Hui who will go on to the quarterfinals – becoming her best singles achievement of 2022.
- Yu Chien Hui (TPE) vs Lauren Lam (USA)[1] 22-20 21-16
Bringing the evening to a close, the Australia-New Zealand hybrid duo Angela Yu and Shaunna Li brought the home crowd to life as they took their Chinese Taipei opponents to a third game. After winning the second game, they were relatively level up until the change of ends, but the pair couldn’t maintain the pace to keep up with Cheng and Sun.
- Cheng Yu-Pei/Sun Wen Pei (TPE) vs Shaunna Li/Angela Yu (AUS) 21-10 17-21 21-13
On the court parallel, the night ended with another casualty in the men’s singles as the winner from the past two weeks (in Sydney and Bendigo) and North Harbour’s second seed was stunned by Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in two games. North Harbour is guaranteed to see a new women’s singles champion too as Sung Shuo Yun (who also won in Sydney and Bendigo) was defeated by fellow compatriot Yi En Hsieh.
- Yushi Tanaka (JPN) vs Lin Chun-Yi (TPE)[2] 21-18 21-13
- Yi En Hsieh (TPE) vs Sung Shuo Yun (TPE)[3] 23-25 21-16 21-19
Check out all results from day two of the VICTOR North Harbour International 2022 on Tournament Software.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place tomorrow, from 10am local time (NZDT). Follow the latest news and find out more on Badminton Oceania’s Facebook page.
All matches on courts one and two are available to watch on the live stream for free, via Badminton Oceania’s YouTube channel – click here to watch.
