by Wade Townsend

Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Hung-Chieh and Chen Chien-An survived a five game thriller against Singapore’s Gao Ning and Pang Xue Jie to book a Men’s Doubles final appearance at the Seamaster 2017 Australian Open, winning 3-2 (14-12, 7-11, 11-8,
4-11,7-11).

While they dropped the opening game, they fought their way back in to the match.

“We had to be really active to attack. But at the beginning we were not feeling so good, but at match went on we found our strong points and became more confident.” Chiang Hung-Chieh

A five game victory, but not without some help from the crowd. The pair were mobbed by supporters waving flags after their match, hungry for selfies and photo opportunities.

“We were really surprised, we didn’t know there would be so many supporters for us here in Australia when we arrived.” Chen Chien-An

Meanwhile, with the recent announcement that Chiang Hung-Chieh is soon to be a father, does he think fatherhood will affect his table tennis?

“I don’t think becoming a father will change anything for my table tennis. Ai is very supportive and wants me to keep training and playing table tennis until I am ready to retire.” Chiang Hung-Chieh

In the other half of the draw Jang Woojin and Park Ganghyeon (KOR) blitzed Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura and Jin Ueda 3-0. The no.1 seeds didn’t give their opponents a chance to get in to the match, and stormed in to the final.

The Men’s Doubles final will be played following the Women’s Doubles final at 18:00 on Friday 7th June. Be sure to catch the action live at tv.ittf.com.