The Asian Leg of the HSBC BWF World Tour 2020 concluded safely and successfully in Thailand last week. The three-week badminton bonanza also produced some extraordinary stats.

Here are the top ones.

YONEX Thailand Open

• Before Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel, no French shuttlers had qualified for a Super 1000 semifinal.
• Viktor Axelsen continued his remarkable run of never dropping a game to Ng Ka Long Angus by beating the Hong Kong China athlete in the final. It was their ninth meeting.
• Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu’s success brought them and Indonesia their first Super 1000 women’s doubles title.
• Carolina Marin‘s final win was her first over Tai Tzu Ying since the French Open 2019 semifinals.
• Axelsen was the only winner of the last Super 1000 (All England Open 2020) to repeat his triumph in Bangkok.

TOYOTA Thailand Open

• Neslihan Yigit’s victory over Yvonne Li gifted Turkey their first ever Super 1000 quarterfinalist.
• Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong beat compatriots Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan to become Korea’s maiden Super 1000 title winners.
• Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin are the first players in history to win back-to-back Super 1000s a week apart.
• After over five years, Marin bagged consecutive straight games victories over Tai in the final. She last did so in 2015 (All England, French Open, World Superseries Finals).
• En route to becoming the first men’s singles player to win all three Super 1000s in a season, Axelsen also extended his unbeaten streak to 28 matches.
• Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai stretched their winning run over Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yujung to five matches. They haven’t lost to the Koreans since March 2019.

HSBC BWF WORLD TOUR FINALS

• Russia finally had a singles player at a season finale thanks to Evgeniya Kosetskaya.
• Marin’s final appearance was her first after three tries.
• Axelsen-Anders Antonsen battle was the first all-Danish men’s singles final since season-enders started with the World Badminton GP Finals in 1983.
• Lee/Shin became Korea’s first year-end women’s doubles champs in 30 years, emulating Hwang Hye Young/Chung Myung Hee at World Badminton GP Finals in 1991.
• Lee/Wang joined Fung Permadi and Tai as the only players representing Chinese Taipei to win a season-concluding event.
• Only Li Lingwei (four) and Susi Susanti (six) have now more end-of-season women’s singles crowns than Tai (three).
• Antonsen became the first player to beat Axelsen in 379 days. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was the last to do so at Indonesia Masters 2020.
• Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai also emerged the first ever shuttlers from Thailand to win a title in the Finals series’ entire 38-year history.

Standout Stat: World No 129 Benyapa Aimsaard’s win over Kosetskaya was the biggest upset in Bangkok, the Thai youngster beating a player ranked 104 places above her at the TOYOTA Thailand Open.