Lee Hyun Il of South Korea poses with his prizes.
KUCHING: Lee Hyun Il of South Korea won his second title of the year after beating compatriot Jeong Hyeok Jin in the men’s singles final of the Yonex-Sunrise Malaysian Masters badminton championship at the Sarawak Indoor Stadium yesterday.
The 35-year old Lee, who won the Thailand International Challenge last week, was down 19-21 in the first set.
However, he displayed his class using his calm, experience and stamina to take the next two sets 21-13, 21-15 to walk away with the US$9,000 paycheck, medal and memento.
Jeong, who received US$4,560, said it was an honour to play Lee in the final.
“I am happy to have reached the final and I must thank Lee for giving me the feedback after our matches like I was slow at the net and always walking around the court.
“So I always followed what he told me to improve my game,” added the world no. 194 ranked Jeong who has lost to Lee in three previous encounters.
“I am happy to win in Kuching again even though my opponent is 15 years younger than me and winning is always fun. It was tough playing Jeong today and I must congratulate him for coming this far … I believe he has the potential of becoming one of the greatest players in the world,” said Lee.
The evergreen veteran will next compete in Kuala Lumpur before moving to Jakarta, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, in the all-Japan women’s singles final, tournament fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara collected her first title of the year beating third seed Sayaka Takahashi in straight sets of 21-13, 21-17.
They collected US$9,000 and US$4,560 respectively.
The 18-year old Nozomi, who was world junior champion in 2012, said she was happy with the result as she was a semi-finalist in last year’s Yonex-Sunrise Malaysian Masters in Johor Bahru.
“This is my first Grand Prix Gold Series win. It is a good start for me this year and I hope to win in more tournaments,” said Nozomi who will join the Japan national centralised training after this tournament.
In the mixed doubles final, top seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen beat second seeded Indonesians Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto 21-18, 21-18.
Christina completed a double when she partnered Kamilla Rytter Juhl to defeat the Japanese pair of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 21-14, 21-14 in the women’s doubles final.
The men’s doubles crown went to unseeded Japanese Kenta Kazuno and Kazushi Yamada who were stretched to a three-set thriller that took 52 minutes by the Chinese Taipei pair Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin.
Kenta-Kazushi won the first set 21-19 but Chen-Wang fought back to level 21-14 in the second.
The rubber set was another close fight, with the Japanese pair prevailing 21-17.