WATCH: In All England final, An Se Young wins sensational 79-shot rally against Wang Zhi Yi | Badminton News
It was one-game all and 6-all in the decider of the women’s singles final at the All England Open in Birmingham on Sunday. An Se-young had been battling exhaustion but had somehow dug deep to win the 2nd game after Wang Zhi Yi had dominated the first. The match was on a knife’s edge. And the world No 1 and No 2 came up with a 79-shot rally that will talked about for ages. In what will go down as one of the longest rallies in women’s singles – and perhaps badminton’s rally of the year – Se-young played some stunning defensive strokes early on to keep the shuttle live before winning the point with the help of the net cord on the 79th shot to leave Wang on the floor. The point lasted nearly a minute and a half.
A battle of wills!
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The Korean produced a marathon comeback to triumph in the women’s singles showpiece as she prevailed 13-21 21-18 21-18 against Wang, who had dominated the first game. Olympic champion An secured her second All England Open title in a match that took 95 minutes after both players had pushed themselves to the limit. They were given a standing ovation at the end, with An struggling to walk through exhaustion.
The rally was a throwback to the incredible World Championships 2017 final in Glasgow, when Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara beat India’s PV Sindhu 21-19, 20-22, 22-20 in a classic that lasted 110 minutes. After dropping the opening game, Sindhu was fighting hard to stay in the match and had a game point at 21-20. It was an absolute must-win point, and both players gave it everything they had. While Okuhara tried the slices and half-smashes, Sindhu was resilient defence.
Earlier on Sunday, China’s Shi Yuqi beat Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao in the men’s singles final to win the All England Open Badminton Championships title after a gap of 7 years since his first. Shi won in 51 minutes, keeping Lee at bay for most of the match and claiming the title 21-17 21-19.
With Reuters inputs
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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