A RAMPANT Lee Chong Wei steamrolled his way to win the the Aviva Singapore Open men’s singles title yesterday.
The Malaysian No 1 and the tournament’s top seed took just 29 minutes to blast the challenge of Indonesia’s Simon Santoso winning 21-13, 21-5 at the Indoor Stadium.
Chong Wei, the World No 2, took home US$15,000 (RM48,000) for his effort.
Malaysia made it a double when Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari took the men’s doubles title with a 21-18, 21-17 win over compatriots Lin Woon Fui-Gan Teik Chai.
For Chong Wei, his first-ever Singapore Open title will act as a massive psychological boost as he heads for the Beijing Olympics in August. The gold medal will be foremost in his thoughts.
But for now he will savour winning Singapore Open after six attempts.
“I am happy with my win but as I said from the beginning I am at the Singapore Open because I need the feel of competition before I head to Beijing. Winning or losing didn’t really matter,” said Chong Wei, who will be skipping next week’s Indonesian Open where he is the defending champion.
“I will take a short break and then return to training until I leave for Beijing.”
For Simon, he must be well aware that yesterday he lost to a player who hardly put a foot wrong, and said so.
“Chong Wei was extraordinary today (yesterday). His performance was flawless but that can be expected from a player who is so matured. For me, I made far too many errors and the gap was always too big for me to do anything,” said Simon, who is ranked World No 12.
For Zakry and Fairuz, who will not be going to the Olympics, the win was their first major title and collected US$13,800 (RM45,300), their biggest payday to date.
“Our win was totally unexpected. But when we arrived here (in Singapore) and saw the list of withdrawals, and added to that the defeat of the two top Danish pairs and the No 2 pair from China, we were confident,” said Zakry.
“We hope this will be a new beginning for us as we look forward to win more titles. In fact, we have beaten most pairs on the circuit except for Indonesia’s Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan, the World No 1, and Koreans Lee Yong Dae-Jung Jae Sung.”
Next week’s Indonesian Open in Jakarta is next on their list and the Malaysian pair are hoping to do better than their semi-final appearance last year.
“This victory will provide us the confidence to take on the other pairs,” added Zakry.
For a change, badminton’s powerhouse China walked away with only one title — the women’s doubles — when Yu Yang-Du Jing beat KLRC Bhd-sponsored Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yu Chin of Taiwan 21-16, 21-19 for the title.
Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen took the women’s singles title beating Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi (also sponsored by KLRC) 21-19, 21-17. It was her fourth title in the Super Series following the 2008 Malaysian Open, the 2007 Japan Open and the 2008 All-England titles.
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