PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia won the All England Open badminton singles finals against Viktor Axelsen from Denmark.
Lee who clinched his maiden All England title on Sunday night won 30-29, 20-22, 21-9.
He took the first set 30-29 before Axelsen fought back in the second set to win 22-20, forcing a rubber set.
In the third set, it was Lee all the way and he managed to beat Axelsen 21-9 to lift his maiden All England trophy.
On Saturday, Lee was in majestic form as he swept aside Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands in straight games, 21-13, 21-17, in the semi-finals.
The current world number 10 felt that he has slowly regained his confidence following his big win against Caljouw after a disastrous start so far, this year.
He has expressed hopes to emerge as a better and more matured player in the future after gaining a lot of valuable experience throughout the outings that he has participated in so far.
Meanwhile, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying lamented over their last four exit at the hands of the unseeded Japanese pair, Yuki-Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo. The Japanese won 21-14, 22-20 to qualify for the Sunday’s mixed doubles final.
Liu Ying admitted that they had lost focus despite taking a handsome 11-3 lead at the interval of the second set, before allowing the Japanese pair to get back in the game and going on to win.
“The pressure was on us after we lost the first set and wanted to win the second set badly but unfortunately we didn’t perform,” she said.
The last time Malaysia tasted a victory in the All England was in 2017 when Datuk Lee Chong Wei overpowered Shi Yu Qi of China 21-12, 21-10 in the men’s singles final.
