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Kuala Lumpur: World No.1 Lee Chong Wei’s dream start to the 2012 season continued as he won his second Superseries title in a row on Sunday. Chong Wei won a record eighth Malaysia Open, beating Japanese challenger Kenichi Tago in a one-sided encounter.
The victory was almost a foregone conclusion, for Chong Wei’s only true challengers are the Chinese duo of Lin Dan and Chen Long. While the title victory would have thrilled Chong Wei, what was more significant was his defeat of recent nemesis and world No.3 Chen Long in the semifinals. Chong Wei had a wretched second half in 2011, with Lin Dan and Chen Long beating him consistently, and he now appears to have regained his magic, giving him much-needed momentum ahead of the London Olympic Games. The eighth victory puts him on par with the great Wong Peng Soon.
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“It’s a great feeling to equal a legend’s record and now I can focus all my energy on winning Malaysia’s first Olympic gold medal,” he told reporters. “I will cut down my tournament commitments to focus on the Olympics. The win is a good Chinese New Year present for me. But I suspect China are preparing all-out for the Olympics so I’ll have to work even harder.”
Chong Wei had shown great courage in winning his semifinal against Chen Long, who had taken a 7-3 lead in the third set. The Malaysian then decided to go all out and rode on the backing of the thunderous crowd to seal his victory.
“If this match was held somewhere else, the outcome could have been different – especially when I was trailing 4-8 against a strong player like Chen Long,” Chong Wei had said after his semifinal. “But the support from the fans was overwhelming and I just could not disappoint them. “I was going all out even for seemingly impossible shots.”
Meanwhile, in other finals, China’s world No.1 Wang Yihan easily took the women’s singles title over No.2 Wang Xin 21-19 21-11. Other winners included Christinna Pedersen/ Kamilla Rytter-Juhl (Denmark) over Ha Eun Jung/ Kim Min Jung (S Kor) in the women’s doubles; Taipei’s Fang and Lee over Gun Woo/ Baek Cheol in the men’s doubles, and Zhang Nan/ Zhao Yunlei over Xu Chen/ Ma Jin in the mixed doubles.
