The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : All England title for Chong Wei

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Monday, Mar 15, 2010
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All England title for Chong Wei

BIRMINGHAM: World No.1 Lee Chong Wei secured his first All England title on Sunday with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over unseeded Japanese Kenichi Tago.

The Malaysian lost out in last year's final to world and Olympic champion Lin Dan but the Chinese exited this time round in the quarterfinals, easing the way for Chong Wei.

But he had to fight hard against Tago who had earlier beaten top Chinese talent Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai to become the first Japanese to reach the men's singles final since 1966.

Tago led 4-0 in the first set and 15-11 later on before Chong Wei finally nosed ahead at 16-15. Though Tago managed to save three set points he finally yielded at 21-19.

In the second, Chong Wei led 6-1 and 11-7 but the tough Japanese levelled at 14-14.

The Malaysian then stretched out to 20-17 and although Tago saved two match points a final shuttle from Chong Wei landed just in the baseline to secure the triumph.

Lee also became the first man to win three Super Series titles in a row, having captured the titles in Seoul and Kuala Lumpur in January.

“It was a big relief to win and a big dream especially as it's the 100th anniversary of the All-England,” said Lee.

Earlier in the day, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunleisensationally joined the very few unseeded players to have won the All-England Open mixed doubles title.

In only their third Super Series tournament together Zhang and Zhao completed their destruction of a stellar field by beating Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, the second-seeded former world champions from Indonesia, 21-18, 23-25, 21-18.

The results (all finals): Men: Singles: Lee Chong Wei bt Kenichi Tago 21-19, 21-19. Mixed doubles: Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei bt Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir 21-18, 23-25, 21-18.

Women: Singles: Tine Rasmussen bt Wang Yihan 21-14, 18-21, 21-19. Doubles: Du Jing & Yu Yang (Chn) bt Cheng Shu & Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 20-22, 21-16, 21-13 . — Agencies

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