Great Dane Axelsen cuts down Lin to win Glasgow gold

One dream ended and another was made at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow yesterday. Lin Dan’s hopes of a record sixth men’s singles title at the Total BWF World Championships evaporated when Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen won the final 22-20, 21-16.

Axelsen is the third Dane to claim the men’s singles crown. Flemming Delfs won the inaugural 1977 title and Peter Rasmussen was a winner, also in Glasgow, 20 years ago.

Rasmussen won at Scotstoun and Axelsen was delighted to add his name to the Glasgow honour’s list. “We love Glasgow,” he said with a broad smile. “I think I will spend vacation here every year. But I just hope we don’t have to wait another 20 years for a Danish winner.

“It was my dream to be in a world final,” added the 2014 world and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist. “But it is unbelievable to beat Lin Dan. I’ve been watching him for years. Today, I maybe appeared confident, but inside I was shaking like a little child.”

For Lin, it was a tough defeat. “If I’d won the first game the result might have been different. But in the second, all the pressure was on me,” he said.

As to his future, he was unclear. “I don’t have time to think,” he continued. “I go home tomorrow and the Chinese

0 Viktor Axelsen: World title. National Games start the day after. Then I play in the Japan Open. After that, I have no plans. It will be difficult to play in the World Championships at 34.”

In a superb women’s singles final, Nozomi Okuhara became the first Japanese player to win a world gold singles medal with a stunning 21-19, 20-22, 22-20 victory over India’s Pusarla V Sindhu.

The match lasted 110 minutes – easily the longest of the championships – and neither player could have given more. In the end, the tenacious little Okuhara came out on top.

“I hope this win will inspire others,” said the 22-year-old. “The third game was so close and I was absolutely exhausted. But I decided to try and enjoy it and I could see she was very tired and was struggling. My attitude got me through.”

Okuhara had lost to Sindhu in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games in Rio last year.

“I learned a lot from that match,” she reflected. “Today I changed my strategy and tried to keep her moving more. My fans were also great. The atmosphere was amazing.”