JOHOR BARU, April 2: Malaysian top seed Lee Chong Wei brushed aside Thai challenger Boonsak Ponsana to claim his first Asian Badminton Championship (ABC) men’s singles crown on Sunday. The emphatic straight-games victory over Boonsak was Lee’s second title in a week after triumphing at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
The last Malaysian to win the ABC men’s singles title was Foo Kok Keong in 1994 in Shanghai.
At the start of the 120,000-dollar tournament Lee openly doubted whether he had enough left in the tank to win, but the world No. 2 took only 35 minutes to demolish his Thai opponent.
Boonsak’s game plan to engage Lee at the net failed, and he also struggled with a flurry of baseline smashes from the Malaysian.
After Lee took the opener 21-12 there was a hint of a fightback from the Thai shuttler in the second, which at one stage he led 9-4.
But with the crowd solidly behind their local hero, Lee reasserted the upper hand and showed his clear superiority by cruising to victory at 21-16.
Wang Chen successfully defended her women’s singles crown in a hard-fought three-game win over Japan’s Kaori Mori that lasted 55 minutes.
It was a repeat of last year’s final in Hyderabad, India, where the China-born shuttler who now represents Hong Kong won in straight games under the 15-point format. This time she had a much tougher job on her hands. aid.
China, the world’s badminton powerhouse, was not left out of the winner’s list with their women’s doubles pair of Yu Yang and Du Jing overcoming their much more fancied opponents Chien Yu Chin and Cheng Wen Hsing of Taiwan.
The men’s doubles finals was an all-Malaysian affair, with the title carried off in convincing style by the experienced pair of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah.
Results of finals:
Men’s singles: 1-Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) bt 8-Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) 21-12, 21-16.
Women’s singles: 1-Wang Chen (Hong Kong) bt 2-Kaori Mori (Japan) 21-14, 9-21, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: 1-Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia) bt 2-Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam (Thailand) 21-16, 21-23, 21-15.
Women’s doubles: Yu Yang/Du Jing (China) bt Chien Yu Chin/Cheng Wen Hsing (Taiwan) 21-11, 21-16
Men’s doubles: Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia) bt Hoon Thien How/Tan Boon Heong (Malaysia) 17-21, 21-11, 21-12.—AFP
