Sun Jun, Martin new world champions

Sun Jun, Martin new world champions

By Primastuti Handayani

COPENHAGEN (JP): China's Sun Jun and Denmark's Camilla Martin
fulfilled their ambitions of winning the World Championships on
Sunday afternoon.

Sun defeated Fung Permadi, an Indonesian playing for Chinese
Taipei, 15-6, 15-13 in 48 minutes to earn the gold he missed out
on two years ago when Dane Peter Rasmussen beat him in the
finals.

Martin took the gold after topping Dai Yun of China 11-6, 6-
11, 11-10 in a dramatic match. The match up was a repeat of the
Sudirman Cup final when Dai Yun beat Martin.

Peter Gade Christensen and Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, both of
Denmark, received bronze medals. Gade Christensen, who burst into
tears after losing in the semifinals, also earned the Eddy Choong
sportsmanship award.

Dane Mette Sorensen and China's Gong Ruina shared the bronze
in the women's draw.

Second-seeded Sun performed at his best in the one-hour match.
He controlled the first game, taking a 10-2 lead before beginning
to make unforced errors, allowing Fung to climb back to 4-10. Sun
smashed back, reaching game point with a 14-4 lead, but Fung
refused to surrender and used his drives to climb to 6-14. But
Sun's was able to close out the game.

The second game was tighter, with both Sun and Fung trying to
steal chances during long rallies. Fung led 13-9 but he dropped
his chance to extend the match by allowing Sun to smash his way
to a 15-13 victory and the match.

"I played very good today. This is my first victory against
Fung in our five meetings and I'm really happy with it. It's the
most important thing to win. But I'm most satisfied with my
performance in the semifinals against Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen. He
was a good player," he said.

Sun said he did not think Fung would beat world number one
Peter Gade Christensen in the semifinals.

"It doesn't really matter because we don't know what's going
to happen in the finals. I beat Peter in the Sudirman Cup finals
but I don't know if I could have won again if we met today," Sun,
who will celebrate his 24 birthday on June 16, said.

Sun said he was tired in the second game.

"But I know that he was also tired. I'm younger and stronger
than him so I have to be able to beat him."

Fung, a father of one who will celebrate his 32 birthday in
December, said he heard a rumor that the Badminton Association of
Chinese Taipei would give him a cash bonus of US$40,000 for
taking the silver medal.

In the women's draw, Martin, 25, was leading 10-3 in the third
game but unforced errors let the 21-year-old Dai fight back to 8-
10 before she equaled things at 10-10.

But Martin steeled her nerves to take the game and the match.

Playing in front of the 5,000-strong home crowd, Martin stood
on the court in disbelief after winning before she ran to
boyfriend Gade Christensen and coach Kenneth Larsen.

China's women's doubles pairing of Ge Fei and Gu Jun defeated
South Koreans Ra Kyung-min and Chung Jae-hee 15-4, 15-5 to take
the gold.

South Korea won a gold in the mixed doubles, with Kim Dong-
moon and Ra kyung-min upsetting All England champions Simon
Archer and Joanne Goode 15-10, 15-13. (yan)

Results

Finals:

Men's singles: 2-Sun Jun (Chn) bt 5-Fung Permadi (Tpe) 15-6, 15-13

Women's singles: 3-Camilla Martin (Den) bt 4-Dai Yun (Chn) 11-6,
6-11, 11-10

Women's doubles: 2-Ge Fei/Gu Jun (Chn) bt 15-Ra Kyung-min/Chung
Jae-hee 15-4, 15-5

Mixed doubles: 1-Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min (Kor) bt 2-Simon
Archer/Joanne Goode (Gbr) 15-10, 15-13

Semifinals:

Men's singles: 5-Fung Permadi (Tpe) bt 1-Peter Gade Christensen
(Den) 15-11, 1-15, 15-14

Women's singles: 4-Dai Yun (Chn) bt 8-Mette Sorensen (Den) 11-8,
13-12

Men's doubles: 10-Lee Dong-soo/Yoo Yong-sung (Kor) bt 13-Simon
Archer/Nathan Robertson (Gbr) 15-11, 15-8; 12-Kim Dong-moon/Ha Tae-kwon
(Kor) bt 11-Zhang Wei/Zhang Jun (Chn)