28 May, 2025
Harry Huang led the way for England at the Austrian Open as he claimed the silver medal in the men’s singles competition.
The Super 750 competition also saw a podium finish for Lisa Curtin and Sian Kelly in the women’s doubles, as they took home a bronze medal in a successful tournament for English players.
Huang progressed through the quarter-finals by beating Singapore’s Lau Jun Hui Marcus 21-9 21-12 in straight games.
It set up a semi-final clash against Chinese Taipei’s Liao Jhuo-Fu, resulting in a mammoth battle on the court.
Huang took the first advantage as he won the first game 21-16 but Liao hit back to claim the second set 23-21.
As the match stretched to over an hour in length, Huang remained composed to deliver a 21-14 victory in the final game and progress to the gold medal match.
In the final, Huang met top seed Magnus Johannesen and fell to 21-17 21-14 defeat against the Dane but secured the silver medal to be England’s best performer at the competition.
Curtin and Kelly were in good form to reach the semi-finals of the women’s doubles after defeating Singaporean duo Tay Andrea Jacqui and Teo Eng Kerin 21-5 21-11 in just 24 minutes in the quarter-finals.
They faced Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chih-Chun and Lin Wan Ching in the semi-final with the pair providing a test too far as Curtin and Kelly fell to 21-11 21-11 defeat.
Notably, Robin Harper and Harry Wakefield also came close to a semi-final spot in the men’s doubles as they took their quarter-final tie to a thrilling third game.
Facing Singapore’s Donovan Willard Wee and Jia Hao Howin Wong, they fell to an agonising 18-21 21-18 20-22 defeat.
In the women’s singles, Freya Redfearn opened up with a 21-18 21-18 win over Finland’s Heli Neiman before falling to India’s Adita Rao in the last 16.
Photo credit: Jnanesh Salian via Badminton Photo