BIRMINGHAM – Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie beat compatriot Anthony Ginting 21-15, 21-14 to win his first All England Open men’s singles badminton title in Birmingham on March 17.
Victory also gave Christie his maiden Super 1000 win at the first time of asking as the world No. 9 defeated close friend Ginting for the first time since 2019.
Christie had to withstand fightbacks from fifth-ranked Ginting in both games before the 26-year-old took Indonesia’s first men’s singles title at badminton’s oldest major championship since Hariyanto Arbi defeated compatriot Ardy Wiranata in 1994.
“I am very happy because we made history, the first all-Indonesia final after 30 years,” said Christie.
“I am the champion here and it is very important for me. The start of 2024 has been up and down but God helped me a lot this tournament.”
Ginting, recalling his long association with Christie, said: “My first memory of Jonatan is our first day in the national team. We were the juniors, really young at the time, 16 or 17 years old.
“We were feeling shy and a bit scared of our seniors because we are young and it’s Asian culture, right... If there is no Jonatan today, there is no me today.”
There was more Indonesian success in the men’s doubles final, with Fajar Alfian and Rian Ardianto retaining their title following a 21-16, 21-16 victory over Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
Said Soh: “We tried to change our tactics, but Fajar-Rian were more consistent, especially in their defensive play. However, we tried our best. We will learn from this experience.”
Chia added: “We had our chances during the final, but they played very well. The Indonesian pair controlled the game, and their tactics and shots gave us problems. They made it very tough for us.”
South Korea’s Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, beaten in the 2023 final, won the women’s doubles title after defeating 2022 champions Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan 21-19, 11-21, 21-17.
China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong retained their mixed doubles title with a 21-16, 21-11 win over Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
Carolina Marin ended her nine-year wait for a second All England women’s singles title after Akane Yamaguchi was forced to retire.
The Spaniard was leading 26-24, 11-1 when her Japanese opponent conceded the match because of a hip injury.
A marathon first game, the joint-longest of the 2024 tournament, saw the lead change hands seven times with Marin, the first non-Asian to win an Olympic badminton women’s singles gold when she triumphed at the 2016 Rio Games, requiring a medical time-out.
But the 30-year-old recovered to win the first game.
Yamaguchi had been involved in an energy-sapping three-game clash with An Se-young in the semi-finals and the decider against Martin was a match too far for the fourth seed.
“I wasn’t 100 per cent in the first game, so I was trying to construct the rallies with what I could do,” said the 26-year-old Japanese.
“If I won the first game, there would have been more chance for me to win the tournament, which would have made it difficult to make the decision to withdraw.
“I was finding it difficult to move, so it was a difficult situation.” AFP
