Victor Lai (right) defeats Jonatan Christie for his first major global title.
The Istora Senayan in Jakarta turned out be the theatre of dreams for the winners of the Indonesian Open badminton championships.
Victor Lai became the first Canadian to win a title; An Se-young grabbed her third crown; Mathias Christiansen-Alexandre Boje became the most successful pair this season; Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto dethroned the defending champions and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin claimed their second title at the stadium this year.
Victor was up against Jonatan Christie, backed by a vociferous home crowd, in the men’s singles that suprisindly turned out to be a one-sided affair.
The Canadian world number 14, took just 39-minutes to dismantle his world number five opponent 21-19, 21-8. The win denied Indonesia their first men’s singles title here since Simon Santoso in 2012.
It was the 21-year-old two-time Pan American Champion’s first major title. He has been knocking on the doors since his bronze medal effort at the world championships last year. His previous best in a BWF Super 100 tournament was a semi-final appearance at the prestigious All-England earlier this year.
“It’s like I’m still dreaming. I think we, as a country, or as a region, Pan Am region, we’re getting stronger every year, and the support we have back home with our coaches and our clubs, I think it shows a lot that we’re training in the right direction, and hopefully with more support Canadian badminton can grow. We’ve showed it with Michelle (Li) before, Brian (Yang), all these guys, they’re capable of competing with the top guys, and today I hope that I inspire some young kids from Canada to believe,” said Victor.
As for Se-young, she overcame a jittery first game to outplay Japanese Akane Yamaguchi for the second time in as many weeks in the women’s singles.
The top ranked Korean was stretched to three games at the Singapore Open last week but came out 23-21, 21-12 victor this time. The win ensured that she claims back-to-back titles as well defending the crown she has also won here in 2021.
“This means a lot. I don’t know, I’m so happy that I’ve won so many. I had to forget yesterday’s play. Today’s a new day and I had to focus on today’s match,” said Se-young.
She was forced to go the distances, coming back from 10 points down in the decider, to beat China’s Chen Yufei in the semi-finals.
“I just focussed on one point at a time, and I didn’t follow the points (on the scoreboard) and that’s why I got a good result,” said a beaming Se-young.
It was an equally emotional victory for Christiansen-Boje as they recorded the biggest win of their career, defeating the Chinese duo of Cheng Xing-Zhang 21-19, 23-21.
It was their third successive tournament win after the Thailand Open, Singapore Open, a feat that they have achieved in just one month.
Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) 21-15, 18-21, 21-18
Japan’s fifth seeded Fukushima-Matsumoto denied top seeds Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning of China 21-15, 18-21, 21-18 in a women’s doubles final that lasted 66-minutes.
It was their first win over the defending champions in three meetings this year. The Japanese duo were beaten by Shengshu-Ning at the India Open and the Uber Cup Finals.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin became the first Malaysians since Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari in 2008, to claim the men’s doubles title.
And they did that by repeating their Indonesian Masters triumph over the host’s upstarts Raymond indra-Nikolaus Joaquin 13-21, 21-18, 21-10.
The unseeded Indonesian duo had initially threatened to avenge their final defeat at the Istora Senayan in January. But the Malaysian seventh seeds grew from strength-to-strength to outwit their rivals and claim their second BWF Super 1000 title since winning the China Open two years ago.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Victor Lai (Can) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 21-19, 21-8
Men’s doubles: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin (Mas) bt Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin (Ina) 13-21, 21-18, 21-10
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 23-21, 21-12
Women’s doubles: Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) 21-15, 18-21, 21-18
Mixed doubles: Mathias Christiansen-Alexandre Boje (Den) bt Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) 21-19, 23-21
