SINGAPORE (AFP): World number two Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was crowned the new men’s champion at the Badminton Asia Championships when he ended the run of Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the final on Sunday.
Ginting packed off the 2021 world champion in just 28 minutes, winning 21-12, 21-8 in a lopsided title decider.
All the finals except for the men’s doubles were decided in straight games, with Taiwan’s fourth seed and former world number one Tai Tzu Ying beating the second seed An Se Young 21-10, 21-14.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought back brilliantly against Malaysians Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi to secure a historic first-ever title for India and the first title in any category in 58 years (since Dinesh Khanna’s individual men’s title in 1965).
Rankireddy and Shetty lost the first game 16-21 and were 5-10 down in the second before battling back to win it 21-17, and topping a hard-fought third game 21-19. The Indian duo won in 67 minutes.
World champion in 2021, Loh was looking to become the first player from his country to win the Asian title as well.
He had shown fine form in Dubai, not dropping a single game in beating India’s Lakshya Sen, Jordan’s Bahaedeen Ahmad Alshannik, Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong and China’s Lu Guang Zu in reaching the final.
But the pace of Ginting was too hot to handle and Loh struggled throughout the match.
Ginting always looked in command and after winning the first game 21-12, he broke all semblance of resistance in a stretch from 2-2 in the second, when he picked 11 consecutive points.
Tai needed six more minutes than Ginting to win her title, beating Se Young in just 34 minutes. That effort included a run of eight successive points in both games.
Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin won the mixed doubles title after beating Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong 21-15 21-16 in an all-Chinese final.
The women’s doubles was secured by the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, who defeated South Korea’s Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee 21-7 21-14.
