Junhui and Yuchen save China the blushes in their home world meet

WORLD No. 5 Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen rose to the occasion to save China the blushes at the World Championships in Nanjing by powering their way to the men’s doubles title.

Junhui-Yuchen defeated Takeshi KamuraKeigo Sonoda of Japan 21-12, 21-19 in the last match of the day to ensure the home side ended the prestigious meet with two titles.

Had Junhui-Yuchen faltered yesterday, the badminton powerhouse would have suffered their worse ever performance in 21 years.

They have never failed to win two titles since the 1997 edition in Glasgow, Scotland.

For Kamura-Sonoda, their defeat saw them missing out on becoming the first Japanese men’s doubles world champions.

The world No. 4 can take heart from their silver medal outing as it was still the best outing by a Japanese pair in the event.

The other title won by China was through the mixed doubles, which pitted the top two seeds Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong against compatriots Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping.

Siwei, who partnered Chen Qingchen to finish second last year, combined with Yaqiong to go one better this time by overcoming Yilyu-Dongping 21-17, 21-19.

By doing so, Siwei also became the first mixed doubles player to have won both titles in the World Junior Championships and the World Championships.

In the women’s doubles final, Mayu Matsumoto- Wakana Nagahara won the rights to be crowned the first Japanese world champions in 41 years when they overcame compatriots Yuki FukushimaSayaka Hirota 19- 21, 21- 19, 22- 20 in a 95-minute thriller.

Prior to Matsumoto-Nagahara’s success, Etsuko Toganoo-Emiko Ueno were the first and only world women’s doubles winners from Japan when they triumphed in the inaugural edition in Malmo, Sweden in 1977.

The Chinese lost their 21-year domination in this event when none of their three pairs made it beyond the quarter-finals.