Son keeps shining for South Korea

PETALING JAYA: South Korea’s Son Wan-ho ended his nation’s four-year wait for a men’s singles title by winning the Hong Kong Open.

The 30-year-old fought tooth and nail against Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto to prevail with a 14-21, 21-17, 21-13 win in a 89-minute pulsating final at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon yesterday.

A day earlier, he had dumped reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan in the semi-finals.

The world No. 6 Wan-ho ironically was the last South Korean to win a top-flight tournament when he bagged the 2014 Hong Kong Open.

Prior to his career’s seventh victory, Wanho’s best was a semi-final finish in the AllEngland in March.

Japan however, was still smiling despite Nishimoto’s defeat as they powered to three titles in Hong Kong through Nozomi Okuhara (women’s singles), Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (women’s doubles) and Yuta WatanabeArisa Higashino (mixed doubles) yesterday.

Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya SukamuljoMarcus Fernaldi Gideon prevented Japan from winning their fourth title of the day

when they defeated Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda 21-13, 21-12 in the men’s doubles.

The world No. 1 are simply unstoppable this season as they have now captured nine titles — eight World Tour titles and a gold at the Asian Games.