Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen and world number 4 player Tai Tzu-ying won the final of the World Tour Finals organized in China by the international federation (BWF) on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Dane, current world number one, dominated the Chinese Shi Yuqi in two straight sets (21-11, 21-12) in Hangzhou (east), after a one-sided match. Accessible to the highest ranked players or pairs in each of the badminton disciplines, the World Tour Finals have a total prize pool of 2.5 million dollars (2.3 million euros).
“I am extremely proud and extremely tired,” Viktor Axelsen, who speaks Chinese fluently and has many supporters in the Asian country, said after his meeting.
“My year has been extraordinary. It was also marked by big disappointments, like the English Open and the world championships at home,” he underlined. “But a great athlete gets up and recovers from disappointing experiences. And that’s what I managed to do. I won the China Open for the first time (…) and I win here. I’ve won some big titles, so I can’t be disappointed with this year.”
In the women’s category, the Taiwanese Tai Tzu-ying, 29, took the upper hand in three sets (12-21, 21-14, 21-18) over the Spaniard Carolina Marin, ex-Olympic champion and only European in the top 10 worldwide.
“I wasn’t able to train well before coming. So my preparation and performance here was not optimal,” Tai Tzu-ying said after his victory. “But when I saw the excellent form of Carolina Marin and (Chinese) Chen Yufei, who faced each other in the half, I told myself that I had to grit my teeth and do my best to be able to compete.”
In men’s doubles, South Korean world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae defeated the Chinese pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in straight sets, 21-17, 22-20. In the women’s doubles, China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan defeated another South Korean duo, made up of Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, 21-16, 21-16.
In the mixed doubles final, the Sino-Chinese duel turned to the advantage of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong who won against their compatriots Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping, 21-11, 21-18.
