Lee Chong Wei beats Long to win Asian title

Wuhan (China), May 1 

Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei defeated his rival and world No. 1 Chen Long of China on Sunday in the final of the Asia Badminton Championships.

The 33-year-old beat Chen 21-17 15-21 21-13 in the closely-fought final that lasted an hour and 22 minutes in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. It is his third title this year and his second badminton Asia championship, he last won it in 2006. Lee is currently ranked second in the world.

Chen won seven straight points in the first game before Lee finished off with six straight points for the win. Chen then bounced back in the second game, but Lee won by a large margin in the third with 21-13.

In the semifinal, Lee had beaten Lin Dan.

Yihan beats Li 

In the women’s singles, China’s Wang Yihan defeated compatriot Li Xuerui 21-14 13-21 21-16 in an hour, clinching her third Asian title. It was an even match with both the players having won nine games against each other before today’s contest.

Wang had ended Saina Nehwal’s run in the semifinals on Saturday.

In the men’s doubles final, the South Korean top-seeded pair of Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong got the better of China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 21-14 28-26 in 58 minutes.

Japan’s women’s doubles pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi crushed compatriots Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 21-13 21-15 in 53 minutes.

The mixed doubles title went to the top-seeded Chinese combination of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, who saw off Indonesian second seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir 16-21 21-9 21-17. — Agencies