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Chinese players shuttle their way to glory
China's dominance in badminton continued as they clinched three top honours out of five in the India Grand Prix that concluded on Sunday.
China's dominance in badminton continued as they clinched three top honours out of five in the India Grand Prix that concluded on Sunday.
Up against top-ranked players, the unheralded Chinese shuttlers won all their matches in straight games. In women's singles, China's Hui Zhou had little difficulty in downing Indonesia's Fransiska Ratnasiri 13-21, 17-21. The Indonesian had earlier defeated India's PV Sindhu.
"The final was rather easy," said Zhou after the win. "She (Ratnasiri) was getting tired and I just kept at it by playing occasional rallies, deceptive stroke-play and smashes directed towards the back corners."
In mixed doubles, the duo of Liu Peixuan and Jinhua Tang registered an easy win over Malaysia's Teik Chai Gan and Hui Lin Ng.
Xia Huan and Jinhua Tang then took the battle forward in women's doubles and kept the slate clean, beating third seeds Hui Ern Ng and Hui Lin Ng of Malaysia.
Top seed DH Rumbaka lifted the men's singles title beating S. Avihingsanon of Thailand. The final went into three games with the Indonesian finally sealing the match to win title.
"It was a tough match," said Rumbaka after the win. "The semifinal match was rather easy but today my opponent was retrieving all my shots and won the first game with utmost ease. But later I knew where exactly to hit. I started engaging him in long rallies that he was finding difficult to answer to."
