2007 Champions:
Men's Singles - Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia
Women's Singles - Zhou Mi, Hong Kong
Men's Doubles - Koo/Tan, Malaysia
Women's Doubles - Chien/Cheng, Chinese Taipei
Mixed Doubles - Natsir/Widianto, Indonesia
Chen, Lee forge title showdown (July 21, 2007)
For all the upsets and surprises posted and delivered in the past three days of the 2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships, two men came out virtually unscathed in the fourth day to forge a title duel everyone would love to see.
Top seed Chen Hong, pushed to the limit by a gutsy Nguyen Tien Minh from Vietnam a day before, vented his ire on Korean No. 9 Sung Hwan Park, whom the Chinese world No. 2 defeated, 21-16, 21-19, in 37 minutes of power game to advance to the final of the men’s singles.
An hour and a half later, second ranked Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, after a string of straight-set victories, got a free ride to the championship when semifinal rival Sony Dwi Kuncoro, the No. 6 seed from Indonesia, withdrew due to back spasms.
Those twin victories sent Chen and Lee to the final of the centerpiece event that had seen some twists and turns in the early going, including the ouster of Olympic and Asian Games champion Taufik Hidayat in the second round courtesy of Nguyen, the elimination of third seed Bao Chunlai of China in the Last 16, and the exit of fourth ranked Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark in the quarterfinal round.
It was a dream match indeed between Chen, the 28-year-old two-time winner of the All-England Championships andChina Open who is hot on the trail of his big victory in the Thailand Open two weeks ago, and Lee, who is coming off a title romp in the Indonesia Super Series last May.
Chen, who went winless in the first half of 2007 after winning the Denmark Open and the China Open late last year, actually beat the Malaysian ace in the second round in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens .
But Lee, 24, has improved a lot in many aspects of the game, including his forehand crosscourt smashes and superb defensive ability, thus making the title duel a must-see.
In the ladies singles thrown in disarray with the withdrawal of the top three seeds on the eve of the tournament, sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp. and organized by IMG, qualifier but in-form Mi Zhou of Hong Kong survived Germany’s Juliane Schenk, 21-14, 17-21, 21-12, to gain a crack at the crown.
Zhou, winner of the Miami Pan Am in April and the New Zealand Open in May who upended seventh ranked Kaori Mori of Japan in the Last 16, continued to stamp her class, flaunting an excellent all-around game while displaying resiliency when Schenk fought back to even things up in the second set.
It was actually a sweet revenge win for Zhou, who lost to the German ace in straight sets, 2-11, 9-11, during the 2005 World Championships.
The Hong Kong bet, runner up in the recent Thailand Open, shoots for her third crown this year against the winner of Indon Adriyanti Firdasari and China ’s Zhu Jingjing in a semis showdown being played at presstime.
