HONG KONG OPEN 2015 Finals – Hat trick for Chong Wei

Lee Chong Wei officially showed his dominant mood is back into the game, with his third straight Superseries won, after he left no chance te his younger opponent Tian Houwei in the final. While Carolina Marin grabbed her fifth Superseries of the year, after she was severely threatened by Japan’s new weapon Nozomi Okuhara. Korea’s World number ones Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong displayed once more their out-of-this-world game, to finish their successful Superseries conquest on top.

By Tarek Hafi.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live from Hong Kong)

The Badminton season is now almost closing its curtains after Hong Kong celebrated its winner for the very last leg of the Superseries event. While most of the players are already bidding farewell until next year’s march in the All England, the elite of the elite is now given an important appointment in December, to crown the Superseries kings and queens for the year.

The King of today however might certainly be called Lee Chong Wei, after his fantastic run at the Hong Kong Superseries, beating back to back Lin Dan and Chen Long, he took on another Chinese player Tian Houwei. Not as known as his compatriots, the Chinese is the perfect underdog in those important event. Having beaten the Malaysian once before, he was simply not allowed to show any signs of rebellion by Lee Chong Wei. The Chinese saw his opponent rushing towards victory in the second set, leaving Tian Houwei somehow numb and unable to reply, until Lee Chong Wei sealed it 21-16, 21-15 with a long the line smash.

The great Carolina Marin is more and more graving her name in the Badminton hall of fame, conquering her fifth Superseries of the year, assuring her World number one seat to remain protected for a while. The Spaniard took on one of the most difficult player to play, Nozomi Okuhara and as promised the final was splendid. Both excellent at covering the court, the rallies remained constantly long and intense until the very last point. While Carolina led 20-14 in the decider with 6 match points on her hand, her opponent proved she’s nowhere near giving up and came back at 20-20.Appearing very calm, Nozomi however committed the mistake first, sending a smash in the net. At 21-20, and an even greater motivation Carolina Marin didn’t miss that chance to convert the match point, forcing Okuhara to finish on the second step of the podium twice in a row.

Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting suffered their very first loss as a pair against none other than the current Olympic Champion Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing. The latter perfectly avenged their China Superseries final just a week before, where they had to undergo severe humiliation on home soil and a straight games loss against their own compatriots. Lesson learnt, the two best friends, channelled their strength to gain a third title in Hong Kong. Inflicting the same punishment, the world number 5 concluded the encounter, 21-15, 21-12, with a well placed cross-court smash from Zhao Yunlei.

The latter also came out winner in her Mixed double final against teammates Bao Yixin and Liu Cheng. Despite a great opposition from the world number number three, Zhao Yunlei and Zhang Nan proved once more to be way too strong for the rest of the world, taking their sixth Superseries of the year, 21-17, 17-21, 21-17.

Final results
XD: Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei (CHN) [1] beat Liu Cheng / Bao Yixin (CHN) [3]  21-17, 17-21, 21-17
WS: Carolina Marin (ESP) [1] beat Nozomi Okuhara (JPN)  21-17, 18-21, 22-20
MS: Lee Chong Wei (MAS) beat Tian Houwei (CHN)  21-16, 21-15
WD: Tian Qing / Zhao Yunlei (CHN) [5] beat Tang Yuanting / Yu Yang (CHN)  21-15, 21-12
MD: Lee Yong Dae / Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) [1] beat Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen (DEN) [3]  21-7, 18-21, 21-18

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