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KUALA LUMPUR – It was an amazing day for badminton world number ones today as they conquered the stage at the Super 1000 Malaysia Open held at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil.
Viktor Axelsen aced it again, successfully retaining his Malaysia Open title in the men’s singles discipline.
The world number 1 men’s singles shuttler defeated Japan’s fast-rising star Kodai Naraoka 21-6, 21-15.
“I could see in the style of his match he was a little bit stiff legged due to the long matches he has played.
“No wonder he is tired. He has played so many good matches this week.
“Congratulations to Kodai and it has been a fantastic week. He is an up-and-coming player and we will see much more from him,” said Axelsen.
The 21-year-old Naraoka has been known to drag opponents into hour-long games.
During this week’s tournament, the longest he took to defeat his opponent was yesterday’s semi-final match against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn – 1h 53m.
Another world number 1, Indonesian men’s doubles duo Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto defeated China’s Liang Weng Keng-Wang Chang 21-18, 18-21, 21-13 to win their first Super 1000 tournament in their career.
“Winning this will definitely be good for our confidence as first-ranked players.
“We would like to prove that being in that rank means that we have the quality as a badminton player,” said Fajar.
Mixed doubles world number 1, Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong of China, also came out on top, beating Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino 21-19, 21-11.
Women’s doubles world number 1, Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of China crushed South Korea’s Baek Ha Na-Lee Yu Lim 21-16, 21-10.
World favourite women’s singles shuttler, world number 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan overpowered South Korea’s An Se Young 12-21, 21-19, 21-11. – The Vibes, January 15, 2023