Win Indonesia Open 2023, Women's Doubles Baek/Lee Admits Winning Adu Tenaga

JAKARTA - South Korean women's doubles Baek Ha na/Lee So Hee said that their victory in the final round of the Indonesia Open 2023 was influenced by superior power factors compared to Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota, Sunday, June 18.

According to Baek/Lee, their opponents from Japan have the same ability as them, so physical resilience is the main capital for them to come out as champions.

"We initially predicted that we would have a tiring match because the opponent also had almost the same attack and defense. The winner of this match was the one with the advantage of stamina," Baek said in a press conference quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, June 18.

From that 67-minute match, Baek/Lee finally came out as champions and set a new record for winning the tournament in the BWF Super 1000 category for the first time.

Previously, Baek/Lee had just collected titles from the German Open (Super 300) and Malaysia Masters (Super 500) events. In addition, the world number two pair is also the South Korean women's doubles who won the Indonesia Open again after 13 years.

In the 2010 edition, the Indonesian Open women's doubles sector was won by Kim Min Jung / Lee Hyo Jung. Baek / Lee's victory also cut off Yuki / Sayaka's hopes of becoming a champion again at Istora after climbing the highest podium in the 2019 edition.

The fifth seeded pair won the title after defeating the Japanese duo in two straight games. However, they had to go through tough resistance from Yuki/Sayaka and were involved in a matching battle in the first game.

Only in the second game, Baek/Lee played so dominant and ended the second game with too many points. The match score ended 22-20, 21-10.

Lee, who is a senior player, also praised his fellow junior athletes. According to Lee, Baek has shown a significant increase in the game compared to when he was first paired at the beginning of this year.

"From the start Baek had played well in his defense. But a long time after the pairing he found out that he was also good at his speed. I hope he will improve his abilities," said Lee.