CHONG WEI WINS HIS FIRST OF FOUR DREAM TITLES IN BIRMINGAM

Lee Chong Wei picked up the first of his life’s four dream titles in world badminton when he beat Japanese youngster Kenichi Tago to capture the All England Singles crown in Birmingham on Sunday night.

In his continuing chase to complete his career ‘Grand Slam’, he will spearhead the Malaysian challenge in the May Thomas Cup series in Kuala Lumpur, the World Championship in Paris in August and a gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

On Sunday afternoon at the All England, his task was made that much easier when the 20-year old Kenichi, stopped the last of Chinese interest in the discipline with a laboured yet emphatic win over Bao Chunlai in the Semi-Finals. Chunlai himself had a day earlier, done the Malaysian Lee a huge favour by eliminating his nemesis Lin Dan in a Quarter-Final tie.

The Final itself was an interesting face-up between the experienced Lee Chong Wei and the first-timer in the Super Series Final, Kenichi Tago. Expectation of a one-sided match fizzled out once the match got going.

On face value, the Final would have been considered a mismatch – the experienced and world’s top ranked player against a 20-year old youngster whose only claim to fame is the Asian Junior Singles title in 2006.

But Kenichi was to prove against Chong Wei that his earlier wins over Tien Minh, Joachim Persson, Chen Jin and Chunlai were achieved through a display of sustained, quality badminton, and that he was good for the title on Sunday.

Both players were going for record of sorts. For Chong Wei, the All England title would be his life-long dream for the most revered and coveted trophy in world badminton.

For Kenichi Tago, a win would have made him the first Japanese to have ever won the All England Men Singles title in the long history of the tournament. The closest a Japanese had ever been to claim the title happened some 45 years ago. Masao Akiyama met Malaysian Tan Aik Huang in the 1966 Final and lost.

Unfortunately for the youngster Kenichi, history was to repeat itself in Birmingham on Sunday afternoon. Chong Wei won. But the 19-21, 19-21 stands testimony to how close Kenichi came to creating history.

Lee Chong Wei was visibly delighted. For him, this win sets in motion his quest for his  life’s ambition in badminton – to complete a Grand Slam before he hangs up his racquet… the Thomas Cup, the World Championships and an Olympic Gold.

The 2010 All England success makes him first player to record a hattrick of wins in the Super Series history. Prior arriving in London, the third leg of the 2010 Series, Chong Wei had won the opening two legs in Korea and Malaysia.

The Malaysian now leads the Super Series bandwagon across the English Channel to the Swiss city of Basel for the next leg, the US200,000 Swiss Open which begins later today.

THE RESULTS

MEN SINGLES

Lee Chong Wei  (MAS)  beat  Kenichi Tago (JPN)           21-19, 21-19

LADIES SINGLES

Tine Rasmussen (DEN)  beat Wang Yihan (CHN)             21-14, 18-21, 21-19

MEN DOUBLES

Lars Paaske & Jonas Rasmussen (DEN)  beat                21-23, 21-19, 26-24

Boe Mathias & Mogensen Carsten (DEN

LADIES DOUBLES

Du Jing & Yu Yang (CHN)  beat                                     20-22, 21-16, 21-13

Cheng Shu & Zhao Yunlei (CHN)

MIXED DOUBLES

Zhang Nan & Zhao Yunlei (CHN) beat                             21-18, 23-25, 21-18

Nova Widianto & Lilyana Natsir (INA)