Taufik, Candra/Sigit take S'pore titles
Taufik, Candra/Sigit take S'pore titles
Agencies, Singapore
Taufik Hidayat put on a sparkling display of attacking badminton to capture his second Singapore Open title with a 15-9 15-3 drubbing of China's Chen Hong on Sunday.
Bandung native Taufik and compatriots Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya were the only holdouts in the Chinese domination of the five events in the tournament.
The Indonesian fourth seeded men's doubles pair came back after losing the first game to defeat Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 8-15, 15-8, 15-7.
The day belonged to a resurgent eighth seeded Taufik, who is showing the superb form that brought him the 2004 Athens Olympic gold.
He followed his stirring semifinal victory over world number one Lin Dan on Saturday by bullying Chen into submission in 48 minutes.
Rewarded for adopting the more aggressive approach, the 23- year-old Indonesian surged into an 8-1 lead.
Roared on by a crowd of more than 8,000, Taufik reeled off 14 straight points from 1-3 in the second game to add to the title he won in 2001 as two-time Singapore Open winner Chen was unable to cope with the Indonesian, either at the net or from the back of the court.
"We have met many times before and he has only beaten me once, I was confident I could beat him," said Taufik, who now holds a 7-1 win-loss record over the Chinese, including three Indonesian Open final victories.
"I still feel I can improve for the world championships, that is my target."
In Singapore, Taufik showed he will be a major threat for the World Championships in Anaheim, California, in mid-August.
After missing the All England championship in March with a knee injury, he defeated All England winner Chen and his runner- up Lin, as well as world number three Peter Gade in the last eight, without losing a game.
"The real final was yesterday," Taufik said in referring to his 15-12, 15-8 win over Lin. "I am really thankful for the support from the crowd. My parents also flew in especially for this final. That made the title more satisfying."
Taufik said he was now aiming for back-to-back wins with victory at next week's Malaysian Open to raise his world ranking to as high as number four ahead of the world championships.
In the women's singles, defending champion and world number two Zhang Ning battled past Chinese compatriot Zhou Mi 11-5 11-7 to secure her fourth title in five years.
In mixed doubles, Olympic gold medalists and second seeds Zhang Jun and Gao Ling rallied from a game behind to overcome Thai pair Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam 10-15 15-7 15-5.