Unseeded Wang stuns Yamaguchi to win Asia title
MANILA: Unseeded Wang Zhiyi withstood a late fightback from world champion Akane Yamaguchi to record a stunning victory in the women’s final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday. Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia took the men’s title with a 2117, 23-21 win over Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie then tore off his sweaty top and hurled it into the Manila crowd in celebration.
China’s Wang, ranked 16th in the world, needed treatment on a back injury but hung on to beat the Japanese top seed and defending champion Yamaguchi 15-21, 21-13, 21-19 in 78 minutes of pulsating action that had the raucous crowd rocking. “I think it’s something I couldn’t have imagined because before the competition everyone including myself didn’t think that I could achieve these results,” the 22-year-old said after winning the biggest title of her young career.
“This was a very difficult match because my opponent is a world-class athlete, but I think I was in the right frame of mind to battle her. My goal is to win every competition so I hope I can keep up with these better performances, be resolute and work harder.”
As in her semifinal win Saturday over second seed An Se-young of South Korea, Wang had to recover from the loss of the opening game. After levelling the match, the up-and-coming Chinese player looked to be heading for a comfortable victory as she raced into a 16-5 lead in the decider, before nerves and her niggling back kicked in to give Yamaguchi a lifeline.
The Japanese player used all her experience to claw her way back as Wang began to make unforced errors and Yamaguchi levelled at 19-19 after a lung-bursting 30-shot rally. But Wang, who moments earlier had needed attention from the trainer at the side of the court, summoned up reserves of energy and forced Yamaguchi to go long to set up a first championship point.