Olympic champion Lin Dan completed a record hat-trick of world badminton championship titles by overcoming Chen Jin in an all-Chinese final yesterday.
The 25-year-old, nicknamed “Super Dan,” began cautiously, before stamping his authority over world No. 2 Chen, winning 21-18, 21-16 in 45 minutes.
Seventh seed Lu Lan dashed Lin’s girlfriend Xie Xingfang’s hopes for a third title by winning the women’s final 23-21, 21-12.
PHOTO: AFP
China pocketed three titles after also triumphing in the women’s doubles.
Lin, the fifth seed, but the overwhelming favorite, extended his supremacy in the game, having won the 2006 and 2007 world titles before clinching the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last year.
Chen, 23, rallied from 11-6 down by denying Lin many openings at the net and successfully engaging the left-hander in rallies, until Lin regained control to wrap up the first game.
Chen raised hopes of a fightback as the pair traded fast-paced rallies in the second game, the finest lasting more than a minute, which Chen won with a cross-court smash to level at 14-14.
Lin quickly shifted gears, however, to race to match point at 20-15. Although Chen saved one, the contest ended when he made a service fault.
Chinese eighth seeds Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting won the women’s doubles, upstaging teammates and second seeds Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei 17-21, 21-17, 21-16.
Denmark won the mixed doubles final when seventh seeds Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl upset Indonesian second seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 21-13, 21-17.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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