YONEX SUNRISE VIETNAM OPEN Finals

YONEX SUNRISE VIETNAM OPEN Finals - Nguyen Confirms

A great Indonesian contingent was sent to Ho Chi Minh City and dominated today's finals with three and half titles heading south acorss the South China Sea. National hero Nguyen Tien Minh kept all his promises and took the men's singles trophy in spite of a thrilling three-game match.

By Tarek HAFI. Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

1 for Indonesia 1 for Taiwan

The mixed doubles was the opening match of five predicted as a real delight for spectators and viewers. On the right, Flandy Limpele (pictured below) from Indonesia and Cheng Wen Hsing from Chinese Taipei, combined their strength and experience to earn their first title at their first tournament together as a pair. On the other side of the net was Malaysia's rising pair Goh Liu Ling and Chang Peng Soon, confirming their recent great shape after a recent semi-final finish at the Chinese Taipei Open. The mixed veteran duo quickly took the lead but they were followed very closely by the Malaysians. Rallies were relatively short but Limpele and Cheng, banking on their greater experience, took the match 25-23, 21-19.

True Hero

The current world's #7 Nguyen Tien Minh delighted his home crowd by taking a second title in a row in this Vietnam Open, confirming his status as the best on Vietnamese soil. His opponent of today's final - just as at last year's International Challenge - was the young Malaysian Chong Wei Feng, who again did a good job by almost creating an upset. After a disastrous first game where the Vietnamese player won 21-7, Chong Wei Feng didn't show any sign of frustration but fought back, and won the second 21-19. Nguyen definitely couldn't let slide this opportunity to add another title to his book of records on his home ground and totally dominated the final game with a 21-14 success for the Vietnamese prince – the best ever Vietnamese shuttler.

Ayo Djarum!

The Club of Djarum can be proud of Francisca Ratnasari (pictured below) who, after being given many more chances to play on the international stage, showed her gratitude by grabbing the title in Ho Chi Minh City against the young and mighty Tai Tzu Ying. Three games were needed for Ratnasari to climb to the podium's highest step, with a very close first game which finally ended into the Indonesian's pocket 21-19. But as mentioned earlier, the Taiwanese player had showed some impressive mental skills and proved it again on Sunday by taking the second game 21-15. However, experience is needed in finals, especially in a rubber game and Francisca has this experience as she had just come out from her teenage years when she was Indonesia's first women's singles during the Sudirman Cup and played several times in front of packed stadiums. This experience was useful today for Ratnasari as she held back the pressure and fought well for the title in the rubber, taking it 21-13 in the end.

After their win yesterday against top-seeded veterans Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah, Luluk Hadiyanto and Joko Riyadi proved the Indonesian's men's doubles coach had done right pairing these two great players together by winning their first title against the outsiders Ong and Hoon from Malaysia. However, the trophy didn't come without any struggle as they needed to find the mental strength being constantly challenged by their opponents. But Luluk's lethal attacks, added to Joko's improved net game, were enough to allow them to end up in gold. Luluk and Joko finally won their match 21-19, 22-20.

It was Joko's first final in three years and his first ever major title but for Luluk, though he had been in exactly one high-profile final in each intervening year, it was his first title since the one that boosted him to world #1 in 2004!

Logic again!

Expected to be a very close match between the 1st and 2nd seeds, the women's doubles match was, on the contrary, a one-sided match for the favourites, Indonesia’s Agustyne and Wahyuni, who clinched their second title together after a fantastic win at the New Zealand Open. They didn't show any sign of fatigue or pressure in front of Amitrapai and Munkit from Thailand with an easy win in straight games, 21-14, 21-13.

RESULTS HERE

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