Chu and Ho strike gold at VICTOR Swedish International

Badminton Racket 800

19 January, 2025 

Yue Chern Chua and Koon Fung Kelvin Ho won their second tournament in as many weeks with a superb triumph at the VICTOR Swedish Open.

Chua and Ho struck men’s doubles gold without dropping a single game in Uppsala, Sweden.

Aged 23 and 25 respectively, the pair are building momentum after landing the Estonian International earlier this month and pulling off some impressive results in late 2024.

The English pair had far too much for Mael Cattoen and Lucas Renoir in the final, running out 21-13 21-17 winners in 32 minutes.

Their toughest test actually came in the first round as they pushed past Bulgaria’s Ivan Rusev and Iliyan Stoynov 21-18 21-17.
Chua and Ho’s landmark success was not the only reason to be cheerful from an English perspective.

Two English pairings made the semi-finals of the men’s doubles, with fourth seeds Oliver Butler and Sam Jones joining Chua and Ho in making a deep run in the tournament.

Having claimed a dramatic victory over compatriots Zach Russ and Jeppe Soby in the second round, Butler and Jones narrowly missed out on a spot in the final.

They were unable to withstand a comeback from Cattoen and Renoir, who prevailed 20-22 21-10 21-18.

Elsewhere, Ethan Rose reached the semi-finals in men’s singles in his first tournament of the calendar year.

Rose showed spade loads of grit and determination as his first and second round matches both went the distance and beyond the hour mark.

The 22-year-old was once again involved in a three-game thriller in the final four but having won the first game, went down 17-21 21-13 26-24 to Denmark’s Jeppe Bruun

Rose was joined in the men’s singles draw by Cholan Kayan, who impressed in beating Sacha Leveque in the first round but lost in the second to Dutch fifth seed Joran Kweekel.

The third English entry in men’s singles, Nadeem Dalvi, lost out in the first round.

Abbygael Harris and Lizzie Tolman tasted victory in the round of 32, beating Ireland’s Orla Flynn and Moya Ryan, before exiting in the second round of the women’s doubles.

Ethan van Leeuwen and Abbygael Harris won the second game but were ultimately edged out 21-12 17-21 28-26 in a titanic tussle with Soby and Katherine Vang, representing Denmark.