News
Match Reports
25th September, 2016
The final games of YONEX Open Japan 2016 MetLife BWF Superseries have been held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo.
Many spectators rushed in to the Gymnasium from early in the morning and formed a long queue in front of the Gymnasium, thanks to the Japanese shuttlers including the Gold Medalists of Women's Doubles in Rio, Matsutomo & Takahashi, and the Bronze Medalist of Women's Singles, Nozomi Okuhara, who advanced to the next rounds of match against the other medalists or top ranked players in the world, and especially, the final game of Women's Doubles competed between the Gold Medalist and the Danish Silver Medalists, the result of the match was in favor of the Danish ladies as their revenge though. Almost fully occupied audience sent blessing to all the winners and the runner-ups after the match.
Yesterday, 24th September, We had 6,150 spectators and we expect to exceed the number today for the final matches.
Result of Finals are as follows:
Men's Doubles
Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen(China) won 2-0 (21-12, 21-12) against Kim Gi Jung & Ko Sung Hyun (Korea)
Women's Doubles
Christinna Pedersen & Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark) won 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 12-21) against Misaki Matsutomo & Ayaka Takahashi (Japan)
Men's Singles
Lee Chong Wei won 2-1 (21-18, 15-21, 21-16) against Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark)
Women's Singles
He Bingjiao(China) won 2-1 (21-14, 7-21, 21-18) against Sun Yu (China)
Mixed Doubles
Zheng Siwei & Chen Qingchen (China) won 2-0 (21-10,21-15 ) against Ko Sung Hyun & Kim Ha Na (Korea)
MS
LEE Chong Wei (MAS) 2 (21-18, 15-21, 21-16) 1 Jan O JORGENSEN (DEN)
LEE Chong Wei challenged to take his 6th Championship of Men' Singles at YONEX Open Japan in the presence of Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado together with the big Japanese audience, competing against the Dane, Jorgensen, who have been defeated by Lee two times this year at the semi-finals of Malaysia Open and the final of Indonesia Open.
From the beginning of the first game Jorgensen stroked hard smashes to Lee's body and left/right side lines aggressively. He earned the points to lead the score by 11-8. After the interval, Lee fought back by rushing to the net and his killer shots gave 2 consecutive points. Sometimes Lee received beautifully Jorgensen's intense smashes which almost touching the floor, thus Jorgensen was forced to make the errors. The score moved from 13-13 to 17-13 in favor of Lee and the first game closed by 21-18.
In the second game, Jorgensen concentrated to return the shuttlecock to the corners and his body-attack smashes and the rush to the fore-court was effective to accumulate the points. Jorgensen led by 11-9 at the interval. In the midst of the game, Jorgensen talked to the umpire for a while, as he wanted to wipe the sweat off his grip, but the umpire asked to hurry up. However, such conversation did not affected the rallies, the Dane said after the match. Jorgensen' anticipation of Lee's placement courses worked very well and he was able to swat off the shuttle from relatively low height. Lee made some unforced errors unusually before Jorgensen took the game by 21-15.
Jorgensen kept his pace in the beginning of the final game. His long reach contributed to catch the shuttle to earn 5 consecutive points and led by 6-2 and 8-5. Then Lee seemed to change the gear to up the speed. One of the longest rallies managed by the magician like Malaysian was finished by body attacked smash to Jorgensen. Lee reversed the score by 11-8 at the interval. Lee kept his speed and hit the reverse crossed cuts and intense smashes. Jorgensen fought against Lee by the combination of the smashes and quick rushes to the net and the score seesawed by one point by one point to 16-15. In such important situation, the smash shot by Jorgensen went widely out of the lines. Jorgensen's eye might have been dazzled by the ceiling light. Lee made a beautiful net-in shot finally just before getting his victory by 21-16.
At the press interview Lee mentioned his thanks to Japanese audience and the sponsors and added this title was very honor for him. Today's game was rather tough, but as always he had prepared much for today and had done a good job. (s)
WS
He Bingjiao (CHN) 2 (21-13, 7-21, 21-18) 1 Sun Yu (CHN)
Both Chinese next-generation players, He Bingjiao and Sun Yu, defeated yesterday their long-term rivals since the junior ages, Aya Ohori and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Today, they are going to play the final that would imply which player would be getting closer to the successor as the Chinese ace.
While Sun tried to force He to move around in the court from one corner to another with the accurate placement of the shuttle, He ran through the court with her quick footwork and showed the jumping smashes generated by using the whole of the body. The some unforced errors by Sun in returning the shuttle would have been the factor that gave the first game to He at 21-13.
With Sun's powerful smashes that did not let He return, Sun quickly reached to the interval with a big gap 11-3. In the second half of this game, He made some errors when trying to hit the smashes going outside of the side lines. Sun could take back one game in a very quick and easy way at 21-7.
Staring with the seven consecutive points, Sun seemed to decide the match with keeping her pace. However, He did not give up the match so easily with making errors as little as possible, with the score reaching a tie at 7-7. Both players performed their strong charms: the series of the various attacking shots by He and the consistent returns and decisive smashes by Sun. However, He succeeded in scoring the last three points by accelerating her footwork and attacking consistently from 18-18 to the 21-18, giving her the first Supersiries title ever.
"Although we know each other well since playing several times before, I was very nervous in the first half of the match today. I feel very happy to win the title of the Yonex Open Japan 2016, but it is unbelievable." He Bingjiao commented in the on-court interview after the final in a very modest manner. Also, at the press conference, she said "My next target is trying to get in the top 10 of Women's Single in terms of the ranking in this year."
MD
Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen(CHN) 2 (21-12, 21-12) 0 Kim Gi Jung & Ko Sung Hyun (KOR)
A 21-year-old Chinese pair climbed to the top of Yonex Open Japan which strong pairs participated in including Malaysian silver medalist of Rio Olympic and Indonesian pair who became the winner of BWF World Championship twice.
The Chinese pair beat the Boe & Mogensen Denmark pair at the quarter-final, Ahsan & Setiawan Indonesian pair at the semi-final, and was building on the momentum to the final.
From the beginning of the first game, Chinese pair showed the spectators in the arena their style 195cm tall Li exploding steep smashes from the rear court and 193cm tall Liu blocking and reacting quickly at the fore court. After all, Chinese pair didn't let the opponents lead or being leveled the score and took the game at 21-12.
Korean pair pushed back Chinese pair by their powerful smashes, and the game became seesawed to 5-4 in the second game. However, they couldn't play as their usual style and took over the score. They earned four consecutive points from 17-12 to close the match. Finally, Chinese young pair grabbed the winning of SuperSeries title first time in their career.
After the final match, "It took long time to win the SuperSeries after we became the champion of BWF World Junior Championship, but we are really happy to win this tournament. We were well prepared and didn't feel any pressure to play in the final." Li & Liu quoted.
Kim & Ko said, "Our condition was not bad, but we couldn't react enough the opponent's swift drive shots through the match. That was the reason why we let Chinese pair lead the match and couldn't turn down the match at all."
WD
Christinna Pedersen & Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN) 2 (19-21, 21-18, 21-12) 1 Misaki Matsumoto & Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)
Women's doubles final was the dream revenge match as Rio Olympic' final, which lots of badminton fan had been looking forward to. Even before the match started, Tokyo gymnasium was overwhelming by spectator's heat and full of expected eyes on the court.
With lots of loving cheers in Tokyo arena, Japanese pair started the first game with 4 consecutive points. However, Denmark pair caught up quickly to the opponent's score with variety of shots. Denmark pair, by taking the advantage of their tall figure and long arms, shoot some skillful steep smashes. On the other hand, Japanese received Denmark's shots well to the end line. The game seemed a see-saw battle until the score went to 17-15, two points leaded by Japanese pair. Suddenly, Denmark pair seemed to have the momentum and reversed the score with 4 consecutive points to 19 -17. However, Japanese pair didn't let the opponent take the score anymore and got the first game with 21-19.
In the second game, both of pairs seemed to be of equal skill & strength again. Each pair made opponents move to the back and force with variety of shots. Spectators had a chance to enjoy the truly fierce battle. Japanese pair's strong pushes made Denmark pair left behind with 12 -7. Japanese fans seemed to be relieved with the big score gap. However, Denmark pair fought boldly and caught up Japanese pair by 12-12. Denmark pair kept the pace, and Japanese pair's service errors allowed them to earn some points. Finally, Denmark pair closed this game with 21-18.
The fate of the final game, many spectators expected to be a close game but it turned out to the unexpected one. Denmark pair started to block opponent's shuttle at a van guard which was different from the previous style of using low drive shots. Japanese pair seemed to be confused by the opponent's style and most of their shots hit to the net. Also Denmark pair earned 6 consecutive points to 11-5. They kept the momentum and aggressive play style and closed the match at 21-12.
After the game, Pedersen/Juhl pair said at the interview "we feel sorry to win Japanese pair at their home. We were exhausted yesterday but we are very happy to produce this result. Before the game, we watched video of Takahashi/Matsumoto pair and made strategies but we think we experienced very tough game in these 3 days. That experience made us stronger we believe. Also we love to come to Yonex Open Japan every year, and we enjoy staying in Japan, thank you so much."
Takahashi/Matsumoto pair said at the interview "We really think that Denmark pair showed better skill than us today. We didn't have enough time to practice after the Rio, and again realized the importance of practice. World competition is not so easy that we will practice more again and prepare for next competition."
XD
Zheng Siwei & Chen Qingchen(CHN) 2 (21-10, 21-15) 0
Ko Sung Hyun & Kim Ha Na(KOR)
This was the second time for BWF world ranking No.1 Ko & Kim pair to compete against Chinese Newcomer BWF ranking No.35, Zheng & Chen pair. Korean pair have been defeated by Chinese pair in Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2016. Chinese pair dominated the first game. Chinese male player, Zheng shot powerful smashes from rear court. Korean female player, Kim tried to return them hardly, but Korean pair couldn't find the clue to turn the game down. Zheng & Chen took the first game easily at 21-10.
In the second game, both Chinese players made some unforced errors and allowed the opponents to reach 11point interval at 11-9. However, the tide was changed in favor of China after the interval. Chinese pair reversed the score by successfully creating their combination of back and forth. They earned the consecutive point and won the match. It was the first time for Zheng & Chen to become the winner of SuperSeries title.
In the press conference, Chinese pair said, "This match was harder than we expected because the opponent is BWF ranking No.1. Our next goal is to raise our BWF ranking into No.8."
Closing Remarks
We hope you have enjoyed reading our articles about the matches and first hand players comments for last 5 days and today.
We would like to thank you for your continued supports and encouragement on behalf of all players and the staff of Nippon Badminton Association.
Good Bye and Sayonara!!
See you at YOJ 2017 in Tokyo from 19 to 24th September, 2017
