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Home favorite ‘Jojo’, South Korea's An win Indonesia Masters titles

Agencies (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, January 31, 2023

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Home favorite ‘Jojo’, South Korea's An win Indonesia Masters titles

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adminton world number three and home hero Jonatan “Jojo” Christie secured his first Indonesia Masters title on Sunday, as South Korean star An Se-young roared back to win her second women's championship in Jakarta.

Jojo calmly dispatched unseeded compatriot Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-15, 21-13 in the 44-minute final in front of a roaring hometown crowd, AFP reported.

It was an impressive victory for Jojo, who last won a major singles title at the 2018 Asian Games.

He was aided by the absence of Danish world number one Viktor Axelsen and the early elimination of Japanese star Kento Momota, both previous winners in Jakarta.

"Dwi Wardoyo is a good and persistent player. We trained hard together for this kind of moment," said the 25-year-old Indonesian ace, adding that winning in his home country made the victory even more special.

"We are hoping that we can make more historic events."

In the women's singles final, world number two An made a stunning comeback to beat Spain's three-time world champion Carolina Marin 18-21, 21-18, 21-13.

The 20-year-old South Korean jumped for joy and let out a triumphant shout after the winning point that secured her recovery from one game down in a tight match against the world number nine.

"In the third game, I felt that I still had some energy. So, I tried as best as I could for the remaining time," said An, thanking badminton-crazy Indonesian spectators that loudly cheered for her.

She last won the Indonesia Masters in 2021, held on the resort island of Bali in a bio-secure bubble because of the pandemic.

Earlier this month, An also won the India Open title but could only finish runner-up in the Malaysia Open.

Meanwhile, the home crowd was presented with a second title when unseeded men’s doubles shuttlers Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin won the title in the US$420,000 tournament.

Ranked 17th in the world, the Indonesian pair defeated world 21 Chinese pair of He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-17, 21-16 in 48 minutes, according to tournament website bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com.

The Indonesian pair now has a 2-0 head-to-head advantage against the Chinese pair.

Chinese shuttlers, however, dominated mixed doubles event with an all-Chinese final with world number 42 Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping outperformed compatriots Jian Chen Bang and Wei Ya Xin, ranked 79th in the world, 21-15, 16-21, 21-19 in one hour seven minutes.

China also won the women’s doubles title after Liu Sheng Shu and Zhang Shu Xian defeated Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in a tightly contested match of 22-20, 21-19 also in one hour seven minutes.

Both mixed doubles and women’s doubles final matches are the second longest match after the women’s singles final match when An defeated Marin in one hour 20 minutes.

The next tournament in the BWF World Tour is the $210,000 Thailand Masters, which starts on Tuesday with final matches on Sunday. (nvn)

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