The story appears on

Page A16

June 17, 2013

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsBadminton

China captures 3 titles as 5-star Lee triumphant

CHINA had to be satisfied with three titles from the five on offer at the Indonesia Open yesterday, with world No. 1 Li Xuerui surviving a 63-minute marathon to take the women's singles crown in Jakarta.

World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia easily defeated Germany's Marc Zwiebler 21-15, 21-14 to win the men's title for the fifth time.

China's Li was taken the distance by fourth-ranked Juliane Schenk of Germany before pulling out a 21-16, 18-21, 21-17 victory.

Li's triumph was followed by wins for China's women's doubles and mixed doubles teams.

Eighth-seeded Bao Yixin and Cheng Shu sprang a surprise by stunning top-ranked Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, 15-21, 21-18, 21-18 for the women's doubles gold medal.

Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, the third seeds, also had a tough battle in the mixed-doubles final. The Chinese duo edged Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 24-22, 20-22, 21-12.

Earlier, Lee, the Malaysian ace, hardly broke a sweat against the unseeded Zwiebler in the men's final, winning in just 40 minutes.

Lee dominated from start to finish, with a string of smashes which proved too difficult for his left-handed opponent to return.

"As I had expected, it was a very hard match against Lee Chong Wei," Zwiebler said.

"He was not that kind of player who will give any mercy if I made weak shots. He was always in control. I tried everything I could."

Lee praised his opponent: "Zwiebler played well today. He showed a lot of progress."

The 30-year-old said he was "very happy" to win the title, which earned Lee US$52,500, for the fifth time.

But he added he was anxious to return to Malaysia to be with his son Kingston, who was born in April and is his first child.

"I just want to go home. I am going back to Malaysia tonight. I miss my son," he said.

The victory came on Father's Day, the first for Lee as a father.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend