BWF China Open 2024: Naraoka Kodai beats Kunlavut Vitidsarn to ...

Naraoka Kodai put out reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn to reach the final of badminton's BWF China Open 2024 on Saturday (21 September).

The sixth seed from Japan trailed 16-14 in the opening game but took seven of the next eight points to clinch it. While primarily known for his defensive prowess, Naraoka won four consecutive points with cross-court smashes to take control of the rematch of last year's world final.

In his first tournament since winning Olympic silver at Paris 2024, Vitidsarn looked a little sluggish as he fell behind 6-1 in the second. The Thai was never able to close the gap with Naraoka somehow blocking back a hard smash at the body from Vitidsarn to go 16-10 ahead.

Naraoka closed out victory 21-17, 21-13 in 54 minutes to reach his second final of 2024. His first was June's Australian Open where he lost out to Lee Zii Jia.

Weng Hongyang, who had failed to progress beyond the second round of any tournament this year, continued his revival in Changzhou with a 21-17, 21-18 semi-final win over Jonatan Christie.

The Indonesian had hauled himself back into contention after losing seven points out of eight going into the mid-game interval. At 14-11 down, the Indonesian was adamant his opponent had touched the shuttle on its way out but the decision went against him. Christie's protests were in vain, and a couple of wayward forehand smashes enabled Weng to take the opener 21-17.

Christie won five points in succession to lead 18-15 in the second, but a bad miss on what should have been an easy forehand putaway opened the door for the home shuttler. Weng reeled off six points in a row to complete victory in 58 minutes and reach his first final since last October's Denmark Open where he defeated Lee Zii Jia.

In the women's singles, Miyazaki Tomoko surprised fourth seed Yamaguchi Akane in their all-Japanese semi-final 22-20, 21-15. She will face Wang Zhiyi after the third seed from People's Republic of China beat another Japanese player, Ohori Aya, in straight games.

Highlights of the semi's, and all the live action from the finals on Sunday can be seen on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app, subject to territorial restrictions.