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HT THIS DAY: October 12, 1981 — Prakash Padukone claims Han Jian and title
This was the second successive victory by the 27-year-old Bangalore based Bank officer, Prakash Padukone, over the top ranked Chinese within a fortnight in the World Cup championships
Kuala Lumpur: India’s Prakash Padukone checked the threatened Chinese stranglehold on international badminton here tonight with a superb straight-games 15-0, 18-16 win over Han Jian (China) in the inaugural World Cup championships.
Prakash today was at his artistic, stylish best. This was the second successive victory by the 27-year-old Bangalore based Bank officer, over the top ranked Chinese within a fortnight. Prakash had beaten Jian in the semi-final of the Masters Badminton tourney on Sept. 25. But his today’s victory was certainly more impressive than the previous, where Prakash had won 11-15, 15-3, 15-8.
Prakash was in his elements today and wrapped up the first game without dropping a point.
The aggressive Han was never given a chance to dictate play as Prakash took points with some beautiful cross-court shots and net-play.
The graceful Prakash had to fight in a thrilling second game as Han’s smashes began to win points but his greater array of shots proved the telling factor and he took the game 18-16 on fourth match point.
Prakash, the 1979 Masters and 1980 All-England champion, had earlier crushed Han’s compatriot Chen Chang Jie, who beat him earlier this year to win the Santa Clara World Games title.
China’s Chen Ruizhen claimed the women’s singles title with a shaky 12-10, 2-11, 11-7 victory over her 17-year-old compatriot Li Liangwei.
Chen, the firm favorite after her strong showing in the Masters tournament last month was never in her top form, and her agile young opponent let slip a chance to win.
Li opened up a 10-3 lead in the first game with the 20-year-old Chen completely out of touch hitting into the sidelines and netting easy returns.
China’s Chen Chang Jie, who lost to Prakash in the semi-final yesterday, defeated Hadiyanto (Indonesia) in straight game to take the third place. Chang Jie won 15-12, 15-10.
In an earlier match in the women’s section Ivanna Lie (Indonesia) took the third place when she defeated Wendy Carter (Canada) in straight 11-0, 11-8.
The Canadian girl finished fourth.
But the more experienced Chen rallied and the nervous Li made a series of unforced errors to go down 12-10.
Li again opened up a huge lead in, the second game with some superb whiplash overhead smashes and this time keeping her lead won through 11-2.
But Li seemed to run out of energy in the third game and then, using her superior net craft, anticipation and, positional sense, quickly built up a 10-3 lead.
Li fought back gamely, saving four match points in the best rallies of the game, but Chen finally took the game and the title 11-7 when Li netted an easy shot.
