Unseeded Huang Di and Zhou Hao Dong, playing only their second tournament together, walked away from the Coliseum with the biggest result on Day 1 of LI-NING Hong Kong Open 2024.

Promoted from the qualifiers, the Chinese pair who exited the Korea Open in the first round on debut two weeks ago, stunned men’s doubles top seeds and defending champions Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen with a fast-paced game, winning 21-15 25-23.

Although the end of the second game was tight – both pairs exchanged one point leads from 18-all – Huang/Zhou held firm to put the game to bed.

Zhou, who had a two-year partnership with He Ji Ting before switching to Tan Qiang at the end of last year, said playing to their strengths was key to defeating the world No.2s.

“Our speed made the difference,” said the 26-year-old from Ningbo. “Being fast is our strength and we were able to showcase the best of it today.

“Kim and Anders are at the very top so they had more pressure to get a result. Our attitude was just ‘go forward’ and try to beat the best.

“We are very happy with this result but focus now shifts to preparing well for the next matches.”

Huang/Zhou advance to a meeting with Lin Bing Wei/Su Ching Heng of Chinese Taipei.

Danish men’s doubles suffered another blow shortly after; Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard losing 21-14 21-17 to Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Daniel Marthin.

Denmark’s campaign in the discipline ended when sixth seeds Rasmus Kjaer/Frederik Sogaard fell 15-21 23-21 19-21 to Nur Mohd Azryn/Tan Wee Kiong in a later match.

→ Results (Day 1)

→ Order of play (Day 2)