Veteran Lee Hyun Il stamps his class

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Lee and Tan share the podium. — Photos by Muhammad Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: National shuttler Tan Chun Seang’s dreams of winning the Maybank Kuching International Badminton Challenge men’s singles crown were crushed at the Stadium Perpaduan yesterday afternoon.

It was an uphill climb from the start. After all, his opponent and top seed Lee Hyun Il has been a class act throughout the five-day tournament.

Only last month, the veteran Seoul native had also clinched the winning point to help hosts Korea score a thrilling upset over mighty China in the Asian Games team championship.

Nevertheless, 28 year-old Tan put up a gallant performance. The tournament second seed even took the first set 21-17. But Lee fought back to take the next two games comfortably 21-16, 21-11.

In the post-match press conference, the 34 year-old one-time world number one who won his first Asian Games gold in 2002 revealed that his career was far from over.

“Currently I am at number 60 in the world rankings, which makes it difficult for me to join large tournaments. Hopefully my ranking will increase with this win and next year I can join larger tournaments,” he said.

Tan gave his assessment of the match.

“At first I started quite fast, then gradually got slower throughout the sets, while Lee maintained his consistency which could be the reason why he won. I was already prepared to face him so I just gave what I had during the game,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian pair of Chow Pak Chuu and Mak Hee Chun came closer but eventually failed to overcome the Chinese Taipei combination of Yu Lin Chia and Wu Hsiao-Lin in the men’s doubles final. They lost 12-21, 21-10, 20-22.

Second seed Singaporean Chen Jiayuan finally brought Indonesian Mariska Gregoria’s fairy tale run in the tournament to an end with a comprehensive 21-8 and 21-19 victory in the women’s singles final.

Japan took the women’s doubles title with Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya easily defeating Maretha Giovani and Rosyita Putri Sari from Indonesia 21-14 and 21-17.

Indonesia managed to snatch one title but Hafiz Faisal and Shella Devi Aulia had a tough battle before subdueing Singapore’s Terry Hee Yong Kai and Tan Wei Han 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the mixed doubles.