Alan beats Ardy in China Open final

Alan beats Ardy in China Open final

BEIJING (Reuter): Indonesia's Alan Budi Kusuma defeated compatriot and world number one Ardy Wiranata yesterday to win the China Open badminton tournament in the northeastern city of Dalian.

Alan won 15-10 15-12 victory over the top seed.

The women's title went to South Korean Bang Soo-hyun, the Asian Games champion, who upset China's Ye Zhaoying 11-8 11-6.

The men's result was the same as in the 1992 Olympic final in Barcelona, when Kusuma won 15-12 18-13.

"Alan played well. I had many mistakes," said Ardy, a former All-England champion who led Indonesia to win this year's Thomas Cup in Jakarta.

Ardy began brilliantly by surging to a 5-0 lead, but Alan leveled at 5-5 before pulling away from 9-9. Ardy surged ahead to a 5-0 in the second set before Alan took over the control and the deciding set.

On Saturday, Ardy, currently world number one, came from behind to beat a stubborn Sun Jun of China 6-15 15-11 17-14.

Alan beat Dong Jiong of China 15-9 17-18 15-7 in the other semifinal.

The clash will be a repeat of the 1992 Olympic final in Barcelona when Kusuma won the gold medal, beating Wiranata 15-12 18-13.

For a moment on Saturday it looked like Sun might pull off an upset. The vastly experienced Ardy led 6-1 in the first game only for Sun to take 14 consecutive points.

But Ardy raced to a 5-0 lead in the second game and rarely looked back, winning 15-11.

In the decider, Sun led 14-12 after two fine smashes, but Ardy leveled at 14-14 and then, keeping his composure, took the match at 17-14.

"It was a hard match," said Ardy. "Sun played quite well."