French teenager Alex Lanier captured his first major badminton trophy at the Japan Open yesterday, beating experienced Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien-chen 21-17, 22-20.
The 19-year-old reached the men’s singles final after beating Chinese world No. 1 Shi Yuqi and Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia.
Lanier, ranked 29th in the world, said he played the best badminton of his career and pledged to “achieve something really huge” at the World Championship in Paris next year.
Photo: AFP
“I have no words actually,” he said of his victory at Yokohama Arena. “I want to be one of the best players.”
The Frenchman, who did not play in the Paris Games, credited his success to hard work over the summer to prepare for the Japan Open.
“I need to win these kinds of tournaments to be prepared for the World Championship, and I will try to do my best in front of the French crowd also,” he said. “I’m just now focused on what I’m doing on court, how to play matches against the best ones in the world.”
Home favorite and former world champion Akane Yamaguchi cruised to a 21-11, 21-10 victory over Thai challenger Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women’s singles, regaining the crown for the fourth time in a 43-minute showdown.
“Overall, I was able to stay proactive. I was in control of the game throughout. I remained very positive throughout the match and wanted to perform better and better,” she said.
The cheers of the home fans also lifted her, Yamaguchi said.
“It was very fun. I was able to stay relaxed. And the results followed,” she said.
In the men’s doubles final, Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin of Malaysia beat Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae of South Korea 21-19, 21-15.
China’s Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning beat Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee of South Korea 21-18, 22-20 in the women’s doubles. The mixed doubles title went to Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin of China, who beat Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet 21-12, 21-12.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS