PETALING JAYA: China’s Shi Yuqi (pic) established himself as the early frontrunner in the battle for the men’s singles gold in the Paris Olympics next month by capturing the Singapore Open.
World No. 2 Yuqi fought hard to beat teammate and world No. 6 Li Shifeng 17-21, 21-19, 21-19 in a thrilling final in 87 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday.
It was sweet revenge for Yuqi who lost out to Shifeng in both the finals of the All-England and Hangzhou Asian Games last year. The 28-year-old has now won his third individual title this year after triumphing in the Indian Open in January and French Open in March.
Yuqi also propelled China to the Thomas Cup Finals at home in Chengdu last month.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s reigning world champion An Se-young prevented a Chinese clean sweep by defeating Olympic champion Chen Yufei 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 to win the women’s singles crown. It was world No. 1 Se-young’s eighth win over world No. 2 Yufei in 19 meetings as she successfully defended the title she won last year.
In the men’s doubles, world No. 10 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu stunned Indonesia’s world No. 7 and All-England champions Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto 21-19, 21-14 to win the title.
It was the high-flying Jiting-Xiangyu’s third title together after they won the Japan Masters last November and the Thailand Masters in January.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Li Shifeng (Chn) 17-21, 21-19, 21-19.
Men’s doubles: He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto 21-19, 21-14.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 21-19, 16-21, 21-12.
Women’s doubles: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 21-15, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang (Tpe) 21-11, 21-19.
