Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, June 15, 2008 – Malaysian Lee Chong Wei beat Indonesia’s Simon Santoso 21-13, 21-5 to walk away with the winner’s cheque of US$15,000 at the Singapore Open.
If any in the 8,200-strong crowd had gone to queue for a snack, they would have missed quite a lot of the final as Chong Wei polished off Santoso in just 29 minutes.
Singapore’s Ronald Susilo fell in the first round and it was left to Xing Aiying to keep the flag flying. She made it as far as the quarter-finals before succumbing to eventual winner Tine Rasmussen.
With the Chinese contingent staying away to concentrate on the Beijing Olympics, this was Lee Chong Wei’s opportunity to capture the title and he did not disappoint his Malaysian fans.
“Chong Wei was extraordinary today. He played an almost perfect match. But he is very capable of that, after all he is such a matured player,” said Simon of his victorious opponent.
This was Chong Wei’s first Singapore title after six previous attempts. In 2004, he fell to Danish Kenneth Jonassen.
“I am happy with my victory here but as I said right from the beginning, I am at the Aviva Open Singapore because I need to have a feel of competition before I head for the Beijing Olympics. Whether I win or lose didn't matter. In fact, I believe many of the top players want to experience the feel of competition before the major event. Lin Dan (China’s No 1) and Xie Xinfang are going to the Thai Open in ten days time and it’s not even a Super series event.”
“I will take a short break and then go back to training again until I leave for the Beijing Olympics,” said Chong Wei, who will be skipping next week’s Indonesian Open where he is the defending champion.
Malaysia also won the the double’s title when Mohd Zakry Latif and Fairuzizuan Tazary beat fellow Malaysians Lin Woon Fui and Gan Teik Chai 21-18, 21-17. For Mohd Zakry and Fairuzizuan, who missed out on the Beijing Olympics, their win in the men’s doubles is their first major title that they have won, and the US$13,800 prize money is their biggest payday so far.
“Our win here is totally unexpected, but when we arrived here and saw the withdrawal list plus the defeat of the two top Danish pair and the No 2 Chinese pair, we were confident. We hope this will be a new beginning for us as we look forward to win more titles. In fact we have beaten everybody on the circuit except for the Indonesian pair of Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, the World’s No 1, and the Koreans, Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung.”
China, the powerhouse of world badminton but with only a token team at the event, only had one title to take home this time and it came from their women’s doubles pair of Yu Yang and Du Jing. The duo beat Taipei’s Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin 21-16,21-19.
The women’s singles title went to Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen who overcame the stiff resistance of Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi 21-9, 21-17 for her fourth title in the Super Series after the 2008 Malaysian Open, the 2007 Japan Open and the 2008 All-England title.
“It was a tough match. Zhou Mi is a clever player and during the critical moments in the match she knew what to do. But my ability to keep up with her and match her speed for speed made all the difference,” said Tine.
I was there at the indoor stadium. The way Lee CW trounced his opponent was truly amazing. He even did a backhanded answer to Simon’s smash. kudos!