Cheng, Sugiyama finish strong in singles finals

The finals of the Badminton World Federation Grade 3 International Challenge tournament—the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2024—was decked out with the flag of the Land of the Rising Sun as all but one match featured Japanese badminton players yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The only non-Japanese players were in the men’s finals which saw a dramatic upset between the tourney’s No. 5 seed Justin Hoh and unseeded Kai Cheng of Chinese Taipei.

Cheng controlled the first set, 21-12, then in the second set, rallied later after falling behind early to seal the upset and his win, 22-20.

But as a top player, Hoh found his stride and momentum in the crucial second set after he was discarded quickly in the first. However, a close call at the in/out boundary proved to inevitably be Hoh’s downfall. It was a tied 20-20 game when Hoh allowed the birdie to drop instead of opting to return it, and was called inside to give the advantage to Cheng.

After a few seconds of discussion, the inside call stood which made it 21-20, in favor of Cheng. In Hoh’s last chance, Cheng drew the serve—and after a few exchanges, Hoh coughed up an error at the net in his return to secure the 22-20 win for Cheng.

Hoh actually had the game in control at the beginning of the second set as he pushed for a tie-breaking third set, but Cheng’s attacks and placements allowed him to catch up from a 7-15 deficit.

From there, Hoh was rooted to the ground as Cheng fought for every point until he caught up, 16-16, and finally had his first lead of the game, 17-16. Hoh stagnated at 16 points, until Cheng led, 19-16. Hoh was then fired up until the game deadlocked at 19-19, then 20-20.

For 19-year-old Cheng after his match, he said that he was very happy with his win. He said that the match was hard because Hoh was a very good player, but he felt that his attacks were stronger and better—which landed him the win.

Earlier, the women’s singles finals featured a matchup between Japanese players No. 3 seed Kaoru Sugiyama and Sakura Masuki.

Sugiyama had the upper hand and remained superior as she controlled both sets to win the title, 21-17, 21-15.

Masuki actually kept pace with Sugiyama in the first set until Sugiyama pulled away once it reached 18-17. Sugiyama then left Masuki choking on her dust after landing four straight final points to own the first set.

The second set then saw Masuki struggle to keep up as Sugiyama led early, 4-1. But then, a resurgence of energy for Masuki tied the game up, 4-4, and she immediately took the lead, 5-4.

It was a tug-of-war with the lead from there until Sugiyama found her stride again and locked in to regain another big advantage, 18-13. Masuki could only land two more points which dashed her hopes for a third set as Sugiyama landed her final three points for the title.

For 21-year-old Sugiyama, this win added another title in her international tournament run. She previously won the women’s singles finals of the 2023 Peru Challenge.

She said of this finals, “I was very nervous because it was a match against another Japanese player, but I think it was good because I was able to give it my all.”

As to how she felt about winning it over her teammate, she said, “I’ve played against her many times in Japan and I really wanted to win, so I’m glad I was able to win this tournament.”

With most finalists in this tourney being Japanese players, she said, “There are already more advanced competitions going on at the same time, so I think it was good that the Japanese team was able to take the top spot at this IC [International Challenge].”

Results of the mixed doubles, women’s doubles, and men’s doubles will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.

Published by Saipan Tribune