New Delhi:I n what will be a replay of last month’s All England Championship final, men’s world no. 1 Lee Chong Wei will meet familiar Chinese rival Chen Long in the summit clash of the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries badminton championship here on Sunday. The women’s final too is a repeat of the All England title clash, pitting Li Xuerui against felllow Chinese Wang Shixian.
On the day, both Lee and Chen survived second games scare before prevailing over their respective opponents in the men’s semi finals in front of a deafening crowd at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here. If second seed Chen had to come up with his best game to overcome Danish fourth seed Jan O. Jorgensen 21-15, 21-23, 21-19, Chinese seventh seed Du Pengdu too showed flashes of brilliance before Lee overcame him by a 21-17, 19-21, 21-14 scoreline.
Sunday’s final in fact will see world’s top two men’s singles shuttlers Chen and Lee facing each other after their All England showdown, where Lee beat the Chinese. In head to head encounters, the two have an eight all record so far.Later Chen said: “I have faced Lee several times and it will be another tough match tomorrow. I respect him a lot. I just want to get a good rest today.”
Meanwhile in the all Chinese women’s singles semis, reigning Asian champion Wang rallied from a game down to defeat Wang Yihan 15-21, 21-7, 22-20 in an hour long match. Meanwhile, top seed Li dispatched qualifier Liu Xin in straight games 21-12, 21-13
