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.