Ouseph loses to top seed in Hong Kong

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Rajiv Ouseph bowed out of the Hong Kong Open on Thursday but only after he had given the world number two a scare.

The Hounslow star took the first game against tournament top seed and World Championship winner Chen Long, a player he had not beaten in four previous attempts.

But Chen, bronze medallist at the London 2012 Olympics, took early control of both of the next two games, winning them 21-10 and 21-14 to seal his progress to the third round.

Ouseph, back up to 28 in this week’s world rankings, had needed three games to overcome qualifier Angus Ng Ka Long in the first round on Wednesday.

In last year’s Denmark Open, the west Londoner pinched the opening game off Chen before being edged out in a tussle lasting 80 minutes.

This one wasn’t as close in the end but Ouseph did repeat the trick of sneaking up on Chen to take the first game.

Although he trailed throughout most of it, Ouseph always stayed in touch, winning four straight points to get level at 15-15 and then edging in front when it mattered, taking back-to-back points to win the game 21-19.

In game two, Chen opened up a 7-2 lead, a stranglehold he maintained, and from 15-10 the Chinese star reeled off six successive points to level the match.

And Chen, who won this tournament in 2012, was in no mood to give Ouseph another chance as he pounced on any mistake from the Englishman, going 9-2 and 15-8 ahead in the decider before sealing the match at the first time of asking.

Ouseph’s next tournament is at the Macau Open, where he will be the fifth seed. He kicks off his campaign against Malaysia’s Beng Hong Kuan, a former top 50 player who is now ranked 218.

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