NEW DELHI: It was the usual suspect who captured the women's singles title. An Se-young, for the nth time, demonstrated that she's cut from a different cloth by capping off the India Open with the top prize in the women's category. But the men's singles had thrown a curveball after the withdrawal of World No 1 Shi Yu Qi from China. Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who captured the season-opener in Malaysia, was one of the top bets to maintain his rich run. But it was an unfamiliar face — Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei — who walked away with the men's crown.
Lin was one of the unseeded players in the main draw and after some notable scalps, including one against India's Lakshya Sen in the last-eight stage, in the earlier rounds, the 26-year-old outplayed World No 4 Jonatan Christie in the summit match here on Sunday. The Indonesian Christie, who has been playing with real purpose since the birth of his son, himself was entering the finals with plenty of purpose. He had beaten some high-level rivals in the earlier rounds. All the recent records would indicate that Christie was the favourite. But as the match commenced, Christie was nowhere near his best.
There was a clear daylight between the finalists in the opening essay with Lin winning points at will before going on to take the advantage.
The more-experienced Christie regrouped and made the game much more competitive in the game but the left-handed Lin, who loves gaming when he's not playing the sport, showed remarkable mental tenacity to take six consecutive points towards the death and close out the match. It was all over within 38 minutes with the score reading 21-10, 21-18 in Lin's favour.
"I think I played pretty well in today's (Sunday) match. I didn't feel much pressure. I was enjoying myself. I wasn't feeling well in Malaysia (0pen) as I had some injury concerns. But in India, I felt like I was playing better and happier," he said.
Hailing from Fangliao (Chinese Taipei), his parents are into farming and they grow fruits. Lin, with the blessings of his parents, has been farming for wins on the BWF World Tour. His mantra is perseverance, working every new day to improve. "My parents never restricted me from playing games. They always wanted me to be a successful, kind and helpful person to society," he said, when asked about their support.
And that perseverance has paid off as this was his maiden Super 750-level title of his career. "I'm very happy to win my first Super 750 title. It proves that I can stand on my own feet. I have gained more confidence and I want to break into the top-10 in the world. That's my goal for this year." In total, Lin now has six titles on the BWF World Tour and will have his tails up ahead of similar tests in the days to come.
