Lee twins power past top seeds in men’s doubles

Chinese-Taipei’s Fang-Chih and Fang-Jen Lee pose for a photo with their trophies after winning the men’s doubles of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.(LEIGH GASES)

Chinese-Taipei’s wonder twins Fang-Chih and Fang-Jen Lee toppled top seeds Ko-Chi Chang and Li-Wei Po in the men’s doubles of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.

The Lee twins, who are the No. 3 seed in the men’s doubles of this qualifier, took on their countrymen and put up a long and valiant fight to start off the championship round.

It was definitely a fight to the finish as they extended the first set to 30 points when both sides took turns in landing points. It was a game of hot potato as the Lee twins would land a point, then Chang and Po would land one as well.

The cat-and-mouse chase went on for more than 15 points when they were tied at 16-16 after the Lee twins had a good lead early on and went back and forth from there with both duos unable to shake the other off.

The Lee twins wished they kept their 14-7 lead because the game went on longer than expected—with the score tied from 22-all until 29-all. 

Chinese-Taipei’s Fang-Chih and Fang-Jen Lee in action against top seed Ko-Chi Chang and Li-Wei Po in the second set of men’s doubles of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.(LEIGH GASES)

But finally, the Lee twins caught a break as Chang and Po erroneously returned a volley too hard and hit out-of-bounds, for a 30-29 first set and the crowd erupted in cheers as the set finally came to a merciful end.

The second set wasn’t any easier as both teams have played each other long enough by now to know what their moves are. 

The crowd went “oooh” and “ahhh” at each return and each point from either side because at this point, it could still go in anyone’s favor. Chang and Po tried their hardest to push for a deciding third set as the game was another close one that had the crowd at the edge of their seats.

In the end however, the Lee twins stopped Chang and Po in their tracks at 22-20 and took the victory before the game could go on any longer. 

After the match, in an interview with their interpreter, the 25-year-old Lee twins said that they just tried to relax through the whole game. “We’ve been playing here for the past two weeks, so we just tried to relax—lose or win—just put it all out on the court, everything we’ve trained for.”

When asked what happened to their lead in the first set and how it came to be a back-and-forth battle, they said “during the deuce, we were nervous. But, since they all play for the same team, we kind of know what our opponents are going to do, so we just tried to make every shot as well as we could from there.”

The men’s finals was another upset as No. 6 seed Takuma Obayashi of Japan beat South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin, 21-19, 21-16.

Obayashi took his momentum from the close first set and managed to maneuver the second set away from a tired Jin. Jin landed good points and tried to make a comeback in the second set but was shutdown by Obayashi’s speed and deceptive tactics.

Results of the mixed pairs and women’s doubles will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.