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India's Gopichand Historic Winner as China Bags 3 Titles in UK
World number 10 Pulella Gopichand became the first Indian to win the men's singles champion in 21 years at the All England badminton championships after beating Chinese Chen Hong in straight sets Sunday in Birmingham.
Gopichand, who had beaten world number one Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng of China en route to the finals, fought back from 10-12 in the first set to win 15-12.
The 27-year-old went ahead 5-0 in the second, but Chen, who reached the final beating Malaysia's Muhammad Roslin Hashim after a 115-minute thriller, pulled it even 5-5. But the Chinese world number 12 faded and was totally controlled by Gopichand, who took the set 15-6 with powerful attacks.
"I have dreamed of winning the All England champion since I was a Child," Gopichand said. "Now this dream has come ture. I think my win will be good for the badminton of Indian and the world."
Chen, 22, who was the only Chinese player surviving the quarter- finals, said the 115-minute semi-final on Saturday had taken a toll on him.
"I have not recovered from Saturday's semi-final match," Chen said. "My legs still hurts. But I had some chance to win the first set when leading 12-10, but I made too many errors."
Chen's coach Tang Xianhu attributed Chen's loss to his "mental weakness" and said he should learn from the defeat.
"He is always weak mentally in important matches," Tang said. " He must overcome this habitual weak point if he wants to become a real world champion."
Gopichand's win shattered China's hopes to repeat their historic four-title feat here in 1997. But the badminton powerhouse, who won three champions last year, was also the biggest winner by taking titles in the women's singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles events.
Olympic gold medallist Gong Zhichao showed the women's singles remained her domain as she retained her title by easing past Zhou Mi 2-0 in an all-Chinese affair.
Gong became the third player since 1990 to successfully defend the women's champion following Indonesia's legend Susi Susanti and fellow Chinese Ye Zhaoying.
Susanti won the event four times between 1990 and 1994 and Ye, who retired after her third-finishing performance in the Sydney Olympic Games, triumphed for three successive times from 1997 to 1999.
The All England championships was also where Gong jumped to fame in 1997, when she came from nowhere to finish runners-up in the women's singles.
"I have won almost everything from badminton but I will not retire in the near future," she said. "I hope to win in the world championships in Seville, Spain, this May."
Zhang Jun/Gao Ling also added the All England champion to their Olympic mixed doubles gold as they fought off fierce challenge from world number one Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen of Denmark to win 13-15, 15-12, 17-14.
The women's doubles final was also played between two pairs of Chinese players, with Gao Ling/Huang Shui winning over Wei Yili/ Zhang Jiewen 10-15, 15-8, 15-9.
The men's doubles title went to Indonesia's Tony Gunawan/Halim Heryanto, who edged out Sigit Budiarto/Candra Wijaya 15-13, 7-15, 15-7.
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