Denmark’s Peter Gade scored a surprise victory in the men’s singles semi-finals of the Yonex-Sunrise BWF World Super Series Masters Finals yesterday, beating Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-10, 21-10.
“Winning 10 and 10 is a very good result against a player like Sony. I did not expect to win with such a score. I controlled the net and the wind,” Gade said.
“I also played a fast game. Sony has very good all-round play and likes to move around the court. If he gets going it is going to be tough long and tiring rallies. Fortunately he didn’t,” he said.
Gade’s opponent in the final will be Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia or Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat, who played their fixture later yesterday.
The crowd started off behind Sony, but found the Indonesian making too many mistakes and got behind the Dane, applauding his victory in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in the men’s doubles, former All-England champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong marched into today’s final by knocking out Malaysian teammates Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari 22-20, 21-14 in 31 minutes.
The season-ending Super Series Masters Finals began on Thursday in Kota Kinabalu in the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island. It offers a total purse of US$500,000, making it the world’s most lucrative badminton tournament. Koo and Tan are in line to pocket the US$42,000 prize money that comes with the title.
They will meet either top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, whom they demolished in an earlier Group B fixture, or fourth-seeded South Korean pair Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung.
“If we win the Super Series title it will be our first big title this year. Frankly, it is more than we expected reaching this far in the Super Series,” Koo said.
India’s Saina Nehwal, 18, saw her run in the championship come to an end after Hong Kong’s Wang Chen beat her 15-21, 21-14, 21-16 in the semi-finals in 42 minutes.
“Saina played a very fast game in the first set. I could not catch up with her speed. She is a very strong player, she is very fast and very young,” Wang said.
“But I was able to come back. I now play a more relaxed game and there is no pressure. That’s why I can still play well,” she said.
In the all Indonesian women’s doubles semi-finals, Vita Marissa and Liliyana Natsir beat Jo Novita and Greysia Polii 21-19, 21-17.
In the mixed doubles semi-finals, Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl beat Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam 21-17, 22-20.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
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