Candra/Tony take men's GP doubles title

Candra/Tony take men's GP doubles title

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Agencies): Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan
saved face for Indonesia by taking home the men's doubles title
at the Grand Prix Finals on Sunday.

Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark claimed the best men's
singles title and Ye Zhaoying of China was declared the best
female shuttler.

Overall, China took home two titles followed by Indonesia,
South Korea and Denmark with one title each.

Indonesians Tony and Candra upset top seeds Ha Tae-kwon and
Kim Dong-moon of South Korea 15-7, 8-15, 15-11 to claim their
first title in the annual event. They also managed to retain
Indonesia's domination in the men's doubles since 1996.

"I was not desperate at all when we were downed 2-9 and 4-10
in the second game. I kept telling myself that this is the
perfect time to win. I'm really grateful and I thank God, my
girlfriend and my coach for giving me the motivation to win,"
said Candra, who won the 1997 title with former partner Sigit
Budiarto.

"Since the beginning we have set our target to win the title
here," he said.

In the men's singles, Gade Christensen rallied from 0-7 down
in the first set to destroy the moral of Marlev, who was a spent
force in a one-sided second set.

Gade-Christensen, 23, won in straight sets 15-11, 15-3.

"For me, this is as big as the Olympics, as well as the world
championships," said the second-ranked Gade-Christensen, who has
won neither, reported AFP. "For me it is as tough because you
have the 16 best players here."

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) said on Saturday
Gade-Christensen will supplant Sun at the top when the next world
rankings are published this week.

A Gade-Christensen smash leveled the first set at 11-11 and
the Indonesian world number eight had to wait for the second set
to win his next points.

After they swapped places on the court for the second set,
Marlev said he came up against the wind and was distracted by two
broken rackets.

"Peter played very well today," said 27-year-old Marlev.
"When I jumped ahead he put pressure on me and I couldn't keep
up."

"He was risking a lot, trying to catch up, and made mistakes,"
Gade-Christensen said.

In the women's singles, Asian champion Ye Zhaoying extended
her mastery over Chinese compatriot and world number one Dai Yun
in three sets, 11-4, 6-11, 11-9 to capture her third badminton
world grand prix finals title, but her first since 1997.

Ye, 25, is now an enviable 8-1 against Dai in events where
world ranking points are at stake.

South Korean world champions Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min
beat Indonesia's Tri Kusharyanto and Minarti Timur in the mixed
doubles for their second straight GP finals title.

The Korean second seeds won it in straight sets, 15-7, 15-7
against the pair who had eliminated Chinese world number one duo
Liu Yong and Ge Fei.

Indonesian coach Richard Mainaky said: "Minarti and Tri failed
to play short balls before the net while the South Koreans'
strokes were really fast and powerful. Our players couldn't
return their smashes in only two or three rallies."

Ge had better luck in the women's doubles, as part of China's
top-ranked women's doubles partnership with Gu Jun.

The Chinese duo, the reigning world and Olympic champions,
swept to their sixth straight world GP finals title, beating
South Korean second seeds Chung Jae-hee and Ra Kyung-min in
straight sets, 15-2, 15-4.