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DREAM WIN … Chong Wei 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. His victory coincided with the 100th anniversary of the championship.
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16th March, 2010
BIRMINGHAM: Datuk Lee Chong Wei, the man who has dominated the Super Series circuit without winning the most major titles, captured the All-England Open on Sunday.
The top-seeded Malaysian brushed aside 20-year-old Kenichi Tago, the first Japanese male finalist for nearly half a century, 21-19, 21-19 in a final in which Chong Wei’s experience just got him through tight finishes in both games.
And, Chong Wei 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.
His victory coincided with the 100th anniversary of the championship held at the National Indoor Arena here.
Last year, the Penang-born shuttler made it to the final but went down gallantly to China’s Lin Dan.
Trailing 0-4 at the outset of the first game, Chong Wei clawed his way back to win the closely fought encounter 21-19.
In the second game, the plucky Tago forced Chong Wei into errors before the world number one got the better of the Japanese with a score of 21-19.
Just before giving his press conference Chong Wei received a phone call of congratulations from the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun 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 Chong Wei.
“It’s going to help me in a big way. I didn’t think I played my very best but I did enough.”
Chong Wei’s nemesis Lin Dan, who won both the Olympic and World titles had earlier lost to compatriot Bao Chunlai at the All-England.
And, Chong Wei 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 champion at London 2012.
Women’s top seed Wang Yihan of China was beaten in the final by Tine Rasmussen in a repeat of the 2009 final.
The Dane gained revenge with a 21-14, 18-21, 21-18 victory.
Twelve months ago, Rasmussen had been top seed, and Wang unseeded; on Sunday, the roles were reversed.
“I went on court without feeling nervous at all, said Rasmussen. “It was very clear to me what I had to do and I was just feeling good and enjoying being there.”
Against world champion Lu Lan 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.
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.
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.
Wang said: “I made more mistakes today. And when I had the opportunities I couldn’t hold on.”
China, which won all five All-England titles in 2009, had to be content with just two this time, the mixed and the women’s doubles.
Zhang Nan and Zhou Yunlei, unseeded and ranked outside the top 100, scored a magnificent surprise win in a great final against Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, the former world mixed doubles champions from Indonesia, by 21-18, 23-25, 21-18.
But Zhou was denied two titles when she and Cheng Shu were unable to capitalise on a lead of a game and 15-12 and lost 20-22, 21-16, 21-13 to Du Jing and Yu Yang, the top seeded Olympic women’s doubles champions.
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