JAKARTA: Both defending singles champions kept their titles on Sunday with straight-set victories at the badminton world championships.

China’s Chen Long produced a fitting display for a top seed to claim a second straight world title with a pulsating 21-14, 21-17 victory against Malaysian nearly-man Lee Chong Wei while women’s world number one Carolina Marin of Spain beat India’s Saina Nehwal 21-16, 21-19.

On a successful day for defending champions, top-seeded Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei beat fourth-seeded Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin 21-17, 21-11 in an all-Chinese mixed doubles final.

Zhao returned to the court a few hours later to successfully defend another title when the 28-year-old partnered Tian Qing to a 23-25, 21-8, 21-15 win over Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl as they retained the women’s doubles crown.

The home fans were then rewarded for their patience as Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan regained the men’s doubles title they won in 2013 with a 21-17, 21-14 victory over China’s Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan in the last match of the day.

Lee has topped the world rankings for a record 298 weeks during a long and illustrious career but once again came up short against a Chinese player at the top of his game in a fourth world championship final defeat in as many matches.

CHEN Long of China throws his racquet in celebration following his victory over Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei on Sunday.—AFP

An overjoyed Chen, who has already won four titles in a stellar season this year, wept and kissed the court as his final triumphant smash sailed home as he stormed to victory in just over an hour.

“Last year I also cried, but this year I maybe cried more,” he said via a translator. “This was a very difficult tournament to play. Every match was very difficult. Every opponent was very strong. I’m so happy to win this men’s singles, not just for myself but the China team.”

Marin also enjoyed a successful title defence, the top-seeded Spaniard beating Nehwal in a high-class encounter to deny India a first world badminton title.

The world number one had been under an injury cloud in the build up to the championships but twice relied on her ability to quickly string together points at crucial times to rally from behind in both games and secure victory in 56 minutes.

“I didn’t think I would be here when I was struggling with my injuries but my coaches said I should keep training and try to play at the world championships and just do the best I could in the tournament,” Marin said.

“I knew from the beginning it was going to be a very tough match because Saina is really good but I kept fighting until the end and am very happy with my performance today.”

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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