Europeans grab singles titles at All-England
Europeans grab singles titles at All-England
BIRMINGHAM, England (Agencies): European shuttlers spoiled Indonesia's badminton supremacy when they took all singles titles at the All-England championships yesterday.
Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen scored one of Denmark's greatest successes when he whipped world number one Hariyanto Arbi 17-16, 15-6 to win the All-England men's singles title.
Earlier, Chinese-born Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden captured the women's title with an 11-9, 10-12, 11-3 victory over Camilla Martin of Denmark.
Indonesia could only salvage its pride through an all- Indonesian final in the men's doubles. First-seeded Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky held off a brave challenge of compatriots Denny Kantono and Antonius in three sets 15-12, 15-18, 15-8.
Hoyer Larsen, who lost in his last five encounters, trailed the title-holder 0-7 in the opening game but then took control of the contest, nullifying the Indonesian's leaping smashes to exert a firm grip on the match.
After surviving three game points, Hoyer Larsen fought back from 16-14 down to snatch the opener.
Then from 7-6 in front in the second, he raced to victory as the 22-year-old Indonesian top seed and two time champion became thoroughly demoralized.
Hoyer Larsen, the European champion, was playing in his first final in 14 visits to the All-England.
Lim had to weather a courageous performance from Martin, who fought back from a 10-2 deficit in the second game to force a decider.
The Dane had won five of their previous six contests, but Lim took advantage of a succession of errors from the 20-year-old Martin to race away with the final game in 13 minutes.
Martin, who beat Lim after coming back from 10-1 down in the final game of last year's Danish Open, saved eight match points before recovering to win the second game.
Too careful
Lim said afterwards she felt she would win at 10-2, despite her previous experience against Martin. "But I became too careful, too negative instead of staying aggressive as I was before," she said.
She added that during the five-minute break before the decider "I just tried to forget what had happened. Even though it had happened before, thinking about it would not help me in the final game.
"It was not easy to do that, but I did it and I played better again in the third game."
Lim afterwards revealed two badly blistered feet, a legacy of her triumph over top-seeded Indonesian and four-times champion Susi Susanti in Friday's semifinals.
A huge blister on the ball of her left foot spurted blood as she unbandaged it.
Martin said she had not been nervous. "But in the third game I just could not keep my concentration. I wasn't clear in my head," she said.
"In the second game I just decided there was nothing to lose," added the Dane.
The first game was close until Lim took advantage of a string of errors from Martin to move to within a point of winning it at 10-6.
But Martin, who beat Indonesian Mia Audina in her semifinal, showed her fortitude by taking the next three points before Lim produced an outstanding smash from the baseline to sew it up.
If Martin had the psychological advantage starting the third game, she wasted it with another string of mistakes after she had edged 3-2 lead.
She did not score another point as Lim pulled away to take the title -- justification for her decision to concentrate on singles this season.