The World No. 1 shuttler Lee Chong Wei sneaked past Japan’s Kenichi Tago by 21-15 18-21 21-17 in a 63-minute battle to reclaim the India Open men’s singles title after a year’s gap. He has left Malaysian supporters cheering over his victory.
In the women’s singles final, the 18-year-old Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand proved to be superior than Germany’s Juliane Schenk. The 30-year-old German shuttler had to be contented with the runner-up trophy for the second consecutive year. The three-time world junior champion from Thailand won by 22-20 21-14 in three-quarters of an hour to haul up her maiden Super Series crown.
Despite of no Indian on show, the crowd at the Siri Fort Complex was still impressive. Most of them were Malaysian supporters. Some of the spectators were tourists who came to watch national icon Wei in action for the first time. All the Indians who came to view the match were genuine badminton lovers who were treated to some top-class badminton.
All the spectators applauded loudly for Wei. Whenever the 30-year-old leaped for a smash onto Tago’s body or dived full length to recover a drop shot, the crowd went crazy. Tago had taken a game off Wei just thrice out of 13 encounters. Wei hauled a 100 per cent win record against the Japanese World No. 9.
A notably happy Wei admitted that he manages to win against Tago every time but he has progressed a lot since the last time he played with him during Hong Kong Open in November 2012.
