Former Asian champion clinches Thailand title

China's Li Xuerui continued her giant killing run when she captured the US$120,000 SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold on Sunday. The seventh seed, who defeated top seed Saina Nehwal in the quarter-finals and fourth seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the semi-finals, came back from a first game deficit to beat second seed and former world junior champion Jiang Yanjiao 10-21, 21-12, 21-14 in 57 minutes.

It was the duo's first ever meeting and the 20-year-old Li Xuerui, who captured the 2010 Badminton Asia Championship gold medal, got off to a slow start to fall 21-10. The defeat, however, woke her up and from there on end, Li Xuerui showed nerves of steel against her more experienced team mate. Showing maturity beyond her age, Li Xuerui began stroking the shuttle with confidence to create openings which she killed off with ease.


Meanwhile, top seed Chen Long (above), cruised to the men's title at the Chulalongkorn University Sports Complex. The world No. 4 carved out a 21-9, 21-19 victory over world No. 16 Lee Hyun Il of South Korea. The Korean gave a good fight in the opening stages of the first game and was trailing 10-7 before Chen Long shifted gear to win 11 of the next 12 points. Chen Long, however, had to work a little harder against his opponent, whom he had only met once previously.


Chasing his first individual title of the season, Chen Long, who was part of the victorious Chinese team who won their fourth straight Sudirman Cup but didn't play a single match, claimed the win in 45 minutes. The victory will certainly give Chen Long a big confidence boost ahead of next week's Li Ning Singapore Open Superseries, where he will be chasing only his second ever OSIM BWF World Superseries crown. He won the Li Ning China Open Superseries last December.


FINALS
Men
Singles: Chen Long (China) bt Lee Hyun Il (Korea) 21-8, 21-19
Doubles: Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae (Korea) bt Alvent Yulianto Chandra-Hendra Aprida Gunawan (Indonesia) 24-22, 21-14


Women
Singles: Li Xuerui (China) bt Jiang Yanjiao (China) 10-21, 21-12, 21-14
Doubles: Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (China) bt Cheng Shu-Bao Yixin (China) 21-7, 21-8


Mixed doubles: Lee Sheng Mu-Chien Yu Chin (Taipei) bt Nova Widianto-Vita Marissa (Indonesia) 21-10, 23-21.


Source : Badminton World Federation