In a surprising turn of events, Choong Hon Jian and Mohd Haikal Nazri won their first men’s doubles title at the World Tour Super 300 Syed Modi International. The badminton pair, who only began playing together in August, defeated Japan’s world No. 16 Akira Koga and Taichi Saito with a final score of 18-21, 21-18, 21-16, in a thrilling final in Lucknow, India on Sunday (Dec 3).
Despite being ranked at No. 93, Hon Jian and Haikal demonstrated incredible strength and determination as they staged a comeback to emerge victorious over their higher-ranked opponents. This win was the highlight of an outstanding week for the Malaysian pair, having also defeated Germany’s world No. 24 Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel as well as England’s world No. 23 Ben Lane and Sean Vendy on their way to the final.
Prior to this win, Hon Jian and Haikal’s best accomplishment was being runners-up at the Super 100 Indonesian Masters in October.
