Composed Jason Teh wins second career title with victory in Korea Masters final

SINGAPORE – After needing eight finals to win the first title of his professional career, Singapore’s world No. 26 Jason Teh seems to have got the hang of closing them out as he beat Japan’s 62nd-ranked Yudai Okimoto 21-14, 21-15 to claim the Korea Masters men’s singles crown on Nov 9.

Unlike the nervy three-game affair that

landed him the Thailand Masters title in February,

the 25-year-old looked much more confident, as he had been the entire week, seeing off all-comers in straight games as he picked up his second Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 300 trophy.

“I feel really, really lucky and relieved to win my second title,” he told The Straits Times after sealing victory at the Wonkwang University Cultural and Sports Centre in Jeonbuk.

“Every match at this level is tough and it gets even tougher as the tournament progresses, with the toughest being the final. I think I have learnt to deal better with pressure.

“Even though I’m the top seed here, I don’t think about myself as the favourite and I just want to play each match with 100 per cent effort.”

Sure, his opponents – Indonesian Yohanes Marcellyno (103rd), local players Kim Byung-jae (102nd) and Cho Geon-yeop (92nd), and Japan’s Shogo Ogawa (114th) and Okimoto – were all unheralded players, but unlike the other seeds, including Canada’s world championship bronze medallist Victor Lai, who were knocked out earlier, Teh justified his billing.

Against a 20-year-old who made the final in only his second Super 300 event, the Singaporean’s experience showed as he won the first point with a well-placed diagonal shot to the backcourt after a rally before racing to a 10-4 lead.

Okimoto then profited from some unforced errors to reduce the deficit to 14-13, but Teh had more weapons with his thunderous smashes – one of which was registered at an astounding 495kmh – and variety of play which helped him take the first game on the back of a 7-1 run.

The second game was initially a tighter affair with two incidents that might have previously thrown Teh off his game.

After being struck by a body smash at 7-7, he instinctively raised his racket and looked as though he was going to fling it before composing himself.

He then did well to finish off a rally to make it 9-8 but scraped his right hand while saving the shuttlecock in the process and required medical attention.

While Okimoto overtook him and led 12-10, Teh displayed the authority of a worthy champion with an 11-3 streak, winning the final with a pinpoint forehand push into the corner of the backcourt and collecting a cheque for US$18,000 (S$23,400).

He will fly to Japan for the Nov 11-16 Kumamoto Masters, a Super 500 event where he could meet teammate and world No. 9 Loh Kean Yew in the quarter-finals if both players win their first two matches.

As Singapore’s top men’s singles players, they also have an eye on the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand.

Teh, who won a men’s singles bronze in Vietnam in 2022 when Loh claimed silver behind Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, said: “The best outcome will be to win a medal at the SEA Games, but I also just want to do my best in every match at every tournament.”

An elated national singles head coach Kim Ji-hyun said: “I’m very proud of Jason. His attacks were working well and he maintained his cool throughout the match, waiting for the right moments to strike.

“We will continue to work on his consistency and greater variations in his gameplay. I have been talking with him often and told him to be brave and believe in himself. Of course, we will be targeting for medals at the SEA Games.”

Elsewhere at the US$240,000 event, the top seed also prevailed in the women’s singles final as Taiwanese world No. 20 Chiu Pin-chian beat Vietnam’s 24th-ranked Nguyen Thuy Linh 21-16, 21-15.

The home fans then had something to cheer about as unranked local pair Kim Jae-hyeon and Jeong Na-eun beat Malaysia’s world No. 37 Jimmy Wong and Lai Pei Jing 24-22, 21-18 in the mixed doubles final.

Not to be outdone, compatriots and 234th-ranked Lee Jong-min and Wang Chan came from behind to upset Indonesia’s 37th-ranked Raymond Indra and Nikolaus Joaquin 16-21, 21-16, 21-6 in the men’s doubles final.

Japan’s world No. 60 Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita then beat South Korea’s unranked Kim So-yeong and Lee Seo-jin 21-18, 25-23 in the women’s doubles final.