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- First All England Badminton Title Lee Chong Wei!
First All England Badminton Title Lee Chong Wei!
- By Richard Vaughan
- Published 03/14/2010
- Badminton Wales News
- Unrated
All England Badminton Championships
Badminton world No1 Lee Chong Wei, the man who has dominated the Super Series circuit without winning the most major titles, went some way to improving his big occasion record by capturing the All-England Badminton Open.
The top-seeded Malaysian did that with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Kenichi Tago, the first Japanese male finalist for nearly half a century, in a final in which Lee's experience just got him through tight finishes in both games.
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.
Just before giving his press conference Lee received a phone call of congratulations from the Malaysian prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, and came into the room buzzing with the thrill.
"It was a big relief to win and a big dream especially as it's the 100th anniversary of the All-England," said Lee. "It's going to help me in a big way. I didn't think I played my very best but I did enough."
But his 20-year-old unseeded opponent, who had already accounted for three seeded opponents, once again impressed with his speed and attacking verve, and was not far from causing another upset.
Lee's capture of the title in the centenary tournament of the world's oldest badminton event, even though he looked a worthy favourite, may not convince everyone that he is now the best player in the world.
That is because Lin Dan of China won both the Olympic and World badminton titles, skipped the first two Super Series of the year and mysteriously lost to his compatriot Bao Chunlai here.
But Lee did suggest that he is adding a better big match temperament to his blistering speed, great defence, and cleverly timed counter-attacks, and may have improved enough to challenge Lin Dan's ambition to retire as Olympic badminton champion at London 2012.
Lee also recovered from an uncertain start, going 0-4, 5-10 and 11-15 down to an opponent who had nothing to lose and came out attacking whenever he could.
The Malaysian made a well-timed push with six points to reach 17-15, and when Tago got back to 19-20 Lee had a slice of good fortune when his attempted kill took a net cord which left his opponent for dead.
Lee played more relaxedly after that, getting to 6-1 quickly.
Even when Tago caught him at 11-11 and kept in touch up till 17-18, Lee was playing the more aggressively.
This time at 20-19 he won the crucial point more worthily, choosing an accurate push down the middle, awkwardly close to Tago's body, to make the championship-grabbing winner.
Lee celebrated by burying his forehead on the court, then thanking coach Misbun Sidek before raising both fists to the crowd.
Earlier the women's top seed Wang Yihan, was beaten. The Chinese player had beaten Tine Rasmussen in the 2009 final but now the Dane gained a startling revenge, winning 21-14, 18-21, 21-18.
Last time Rasmussen had been top seed, and Wang unseeded, but now the roles were reversed.
"I went on court without feeling nervous at all, said Rasmussen. "It was all very clear to me what I had to do and I was just feeling good and enjoying being there."
She came out like a train, switching the shuttle from side to side with flat lifts, getting her big smash in whenever there was half a chance and playing the rallies at a greater speed than before.
Against Lu Lan, the world champion in the semi-finals, she had saved three match points by steadying her game up. Now she went full out on the attack and for a while blew the favourite aside.
But Wang got on the attack herself more often in the second as Rasmussen found it harder to maintain the high speed aggression and surged to 6-3 up in the third.
It was then, Rasmussen claimed, that she had flashbacks to the 2008 final, when she had beaten Lu Lan in the final.
A flick-lift to the backhand, perfectly in the corner, got her to 19-18, another lift was deep enough to make Wang produce a clearing error, and two more lifts created just enough of an opening for Rasmussen to bang one more of those big smashes to the floor amidst a ferment of noise.
The racket went flying again just as it had against Lu Lan, and this time Rasmussen was in tears as she embraced coach Kenneth Jonassen.
"This is unbelievable," she said. "It feels totally wonderful."
Wang said: "I made more mistakes today. And when I had the opportunities I couldn't hold on."
The top-seeded Malaysian did that with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Kenichi Tago, the first Japanese male finalist for nearly half a century, in a final in which Lee's experience just got him through tight finishes in both games.
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.
Just before giving his press conference Lee received a phone call of congratulations from the Malaysian prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, and came into the room buzzing with the thrill.
"It was a big relief to win and a big dream especially as it's the 100th anniversary of the All-England," said Lee. "It's going to help me in a big way. I didn't think I played my very best but I did enough."
But his 20-year-old unseeded opponent, who had already accounted for three seeded opponents, once again impressed with his speed and attacking verve, and was not far from causing another upset.
Lee's capture of the title in the centenary tournament of the world's oldest badminton event, even though he looked a worthy favourite, may not convince everyone that he is now the best player in the world.
That is because Lin Dan of China won both the Olympic and World badminton titles, skipped the first two Super Series of the year and mysteriously lost to his compatriot Bao Chunlai here.
But Lee did suggest that he is adding a better big match temperament to his blistering speed, great defence, and cleverly timed counter-attacks, and may have improved enough to challenge Lin Dan's ambition to retire as Olympic badminton champion at London 2012.
Lee also recovered from an uncertain start, going 0-4, 5-10 and 11-15 down to an opponent who had nothing to lose and came out attacking whenever he could.
The Malaysian made a well-timed push with six points to reach 17-15, and when Tago got back to 19-20 Lee had a slice of good fortune when his attempted kill took a net cord which left his opponent for dead.
Lee played more relaxedly after that, getting to 6-1 quickly.
Even when Tago caught him at 11-11 and kept in touch up till 17-18, Lee was playing the more aggressively.
This time at 20-19 he won the crucial point more worthily, choosing an accurate push down the middle, awkwardly close to Tago's body, to make the championship-grabbing winner.
Lee celebrated by burying his forehead on the court, then thanking coach Misbun Sidek before raising both fists to the crowd.
Earlier the women's top seed Wang Yihan, was beaten. The Chinese player had beaten Tine Rasmussen in the 2009 final but now the Dane gained a startling revenge, winning 21-14, 18-21, 21-18.
Last time Rasmussen had been top seed, and Wang unseeded, but now the roles were reversed.
"I went on court without feeling nervous at all, said Rasmussen. "It was all very clear to me what I had to do and I was just feeling good and enjoying being there."
She came out like a train, switching the shuttle from side to side with flat lifts, getting her big smash in whenever there was half a chance and playing the rallies at a greater speed than before.
Against Lu Lan, the world champion in the semi-finals, she had saved three match points by steadying her game up. Now she went full out on the attack and for a while blew the favourite aside.
But Wang got on the attack herself more often in the second as Rasmussen found it harder to maintain the high speed aggression and surged to 6-3 up in the third.
It was then, Rasmussen claimed, that she had flashbacks to the 2008 final, when she had beaten Lu Lan in the final.
A flick-lift to the backhand, perfectly in the corner, got her to 19-18, another lift was deep enough to make Wang produce a clearing error, and two more lifts created just enough of an opening for Rasmussen to bang one more of those big smashes to the floor amidst a ferment of noise.
The racket went flying again just as it had against Lu Lan, and this time Rasmussen was in tears as she embraced coach Kenneth Jonassen.
"This is unbelievable," she said. "It feels totally wonderful."
Wang said: "I made more mistakes today. And when I had the opportunities I couldn't hold on."