Chen makes short work of Lee to retain crown

TOP seed Chen Long proved unstoppable as he retained the singles crown at the world championships yesterday, with Lee Chong Wei suffering an agonising fourth straight defeat.

There were back-to-back championship victories in the women's singles too, with world No. 1 Carolina Marin of Spain beating India's Saina Nehwal to retain her title.

Lee entered the final hungrier than ever for his elusive world title but could not unsettle the Chinese world No. 1, who stormed to a 21-14, 21-17 victory in just over an hour.

An overjoyed Chen, who has already won four titles in a stellar season this year, wept and kissed the court as his final triumphant smash sailed home.

"Last year I also cried, but this year I maybe cried more," he said via a translator.

"This was a very difficult tournament to play. Every match was very difficult. Every opponent was very strong. I'm so happy to win this men's singles, not just for myself but the China team."

Little separated Chen and Lee as they sparred at electrifying speed in the first game.

But at 12-all, the Chinese turned up the heat with a series of blistering smashes that left Lee trailing.

After being steamrollered 21-14, the Malaysian put up a brief fight early in the second. But Chen refused to yield, taking seven unanswered points and establishing a comfortable lead.

The speed and accuracy which Lee utilised to deadly effect against lesser opponents in the tournament failed to have an impact until later in the second game, when the gap between the two narrowed to 17-15.

But in the end, Chen was unrelenting and outmanoeuvred the Malaysian at every turn, ending Lee's dreams of gold with a smash directly at his feet.

"Today he played so well," Lee said of his rival after the match. "I tried to adapt and all the way he defended. I tried to play a rally and he ran with me."

He entered the competition unseeded for the first time in years, after returning from an eight-month doping ban. His comeback had pundits tipping he would take the gold in Jakarta.

Earlier, women's top seed Marin charged to a 21-16, 21-19 win over Nehwal to take home her second successive gold medal.

The Spaniard had nearly missed the championships after suffering a foot injury just a month ago, and had refused to speculate about her chances of retaining her crown.

"This time was more difficult than the first time," she said.

Badminton's governing body later apologised to Marin for an "unfortunate mistake" that saw the Franco-era Spanish national anthem, instead of the modern one which does not contain any lyrics, played in the arena as the Spaniard took to the winner's podium.

History was made earlier in the day as defending champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei became the first pair ever to win three gold medals in the mixed doubles, with a routine victory over Chinese teammates Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin 21-17, 21-11.

In the women's doubles final, China's Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing, the fifth seeds, upset Danes Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, ranked one rung above them, 23-25, 21-8, 21-15.

In the men's doubles, hosts Indonesia finally had something to cheer when Hendra Setiawan and Mohamad Ahsan beat China's Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan 21-17, 21-14 to lift the title.

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