Ji and Gong Capture Japan Open Singles TitlesJi Xinpeng of China defeated Asian Games silver medallist Hendrawan in the men's singles final to snatch his first career victory at the Japan Open badminton tournament on Sunday.22-year-old Ji, whose previous best was runner-up in the Swiss Open and semi-final finish at the All-England last month, edged the Indonesian third seed 6-15, 17-15, 15-4. It was the first time that Ji played Hendrawan in major tournaments. Ji received the first prize of 14,400 U.S. dollars from the last open tournament for the Sydney Olympic qualification. In the all-Chinese women's singles final, last year's runner-up Gong Zhichao eliminated defending champion Ye Zhaoying 11-7, 11-3 in a re-match of the finals of the past two years here. Gong collected the 12,420 dollars first prize from her second title of the season, following her biggest career victory at All England Open last month. China also won the mixed doubles and women's doubles. In the mixed doubles final, the top-seeded pair of Liu Yong and Ge Fei underlined their better seeding by beating the second- seeded Indonesian duo of Tri Kusharyanto and Minarti Timur 15-5, 17-14. Reigning world number one pair of Ge Fei and Gu Jun fell victim to fellow Chinese second seeds Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei 15-13, 4- 15, 11-15 and failed to defend the women's doubles title. Indonesia won the only remaining title in the men's doubles when Wijaya Candra and Tony Gunawan routed the second-seeded South Korean duo of Lee Dong-Soo and Yoo Yong-Sung 15-6, 15-7. |
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