Badminton: Lee blazes into Singapore Open final

Li, Wang to renew rivalry in the women’s showdown.

SINGAPORE:

World number one Lee Chong Wei blazed into the Singapore Open men’s final on Saturday while Olympic champion Li Xuerui set up a women’s face-off with her Chinese rival Wang Yihan.

Malaysia’s Lee weathered a storm of attacking play against unseeded Indian K Srikanth before pulling clear to go into a final against Indonesia’s Simon Santoso, who upset China’s Du Pengyu.

Lee last won the Singapore Open in 2008 and he was not to be denied in the semis despite falling behind 19-16 in the first game as Srikanth, 21, opted for a stream of relentless smashes.

But the veteran Lee reeled off five unanswered points to take the opener and in front of an appreciative crowd, he aggressively took the second game and the match 21-19, 21-18.

The 31-year-old, will now look to extend his record tally of 33 Super Series titles in the final against Santoso, who stunned the fifth-seeded Du 16-21, 21-17, 21-17.

“For me, he [Santoso] is an attacker and I will have to prepare for his offensive game,” said the reigning All-England champion.

In the women’s draw, Li will resume hostilities with defending champion Wang after strolling past South Korea’s fifth seed Sung Ji-Hyun 21-13, 21-13.

Top seed Li shocked Wang to win Olympic gold in 2012 but her Chinese teammate gained a measure of revenge with her victory in last year’s Singapore final.

Wang encountered little trouble against Han Li, also of China, to reach the final 21-18, 21-12.

Mixed doubles top seeds and All-England champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir stayed on course to defend their title by beating unseeded Chinese duo Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin 17-21, 21-11, 21-19.

Riky Widianto and Puspita Richi Dili came from behind to set up an all-Indonesian final when they overcame South Korea’s Ko Sung-Hyun and Kim Ha-Na 20-22, 21-17, 21-16.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2014.

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