HYDERABAD: Seventh seed Lu Lan denied fifth seed Xie Xingfang her third world title with a 23-21, 21-12 win in 38 minutes in the World Badminton Championship women’s singles final on Sunday. It was Lu’s maiden world title. Xie, hardly looked at her best while Lu played steadily to emerge champion. Lu struggled briefly in the opening game, but was too good for her opponent in the second. “I tried to hit fast and finish off rallies quicky. The first game was a bit tough, but the second was surprisingly easy,” said Lu. “My love for the game has increased after the Olympics. I have been working hard to improve my game and I practise a lot.”
The joyful Lu said it was a big victory for her. “More than the victory it was an amazing experience to play against Xie and beat her in the final,” said the 22-year-old Lu, who was the better player on Sunday.
Lu was more enterprising and meant business from the word go. She showed the ability to negate Xie’s game. Xie lost her way completely as she committed errors to surrender the match on a platter to Lu.
Lu said she wanted to finish the game quickly as her energy levels were dropping way too fast. “If the match happened to go till the decider (third game) Xie would have given me a tougher fight,” said the new world champion.
Xie was disappointed with her loss in the final. “I’m still getting used to the new players. It takes time to adjust to them. I’m worried about my loss but at the same time happy about his (Lin Dan) victory. We are going to celebrate it together,” she said.
While appreciating Lu’s talent, Xie said she was looking forward to the China Masters.
For eighth seeds Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting it was their first-ever World title. The new women’s World champion defeated their fellow countrywoman and second seed Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei 17-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a marathon 64-minute final.
“This is our first World title and we are happy about it,” they said.The match was one of the toughest in championship. “We conquered the pressure, which is the reason behind our success,” said Zhao Tingting, who was almost in tears after the victory. Tingting also hinted that this could be her last World Championship, as she was considering retirement after some time.