Denmark's Viktor Axelsen hits a return against China's Lei Lanxi during the men's singles final at the Hong Kong Open badminton tournament on September 15, 2024. - Photo by Holmes CHAN / AFP
HONG KONG (AFP): Double Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen cruised to his maiden Hong Kong Open title on Sunday, defeating China's Lei Lanxi 21-9, 21-12.
The Dane had not dropped a game all week in his first tournament since winning gold in Paris and took just 44 minutes to dispatch Lei 21-9, 21-12 in front of an adoring capacity crowd at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
It was the world number second Badminton World Federation tour title this year following his win at May's Malaysia Masters and he said he was "a bit surprised but happy", because maintaining his form since the Olympics had been "stressful".
"I managed to play very aggressively, but also with a great balance to my game," he told AFP, biting into a traditional mooncake -- a gift from fans for the Mid-Autumn Festival, a national holiday in China this week.
World number 22 Lei, in only his second tour level final, made a bright start to both games but the 26-year-old soon found it tough to keep pace with Axelsen, who became the first Dane to lift the men's singles title in Hong Kong since Peter Gade in 1997.
In the women's singles, China's Han Yue confirmed her status as a rising star after the 24-year-old outplayed Indonesia's unseeded Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-18, 21-7
The mixed doubles was an all-China clash, with Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin edging Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping 21-17, 21-19.
Malaysia's Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, runners-up a year ago, secured the women's doubles title 21-14, 21-14 against China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning.
Korea's Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae won the men's doubles 21-13, 21-17 against Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani from Indonesia. - AFP
