World champion Lin Dan won the Japan Open title after an extraordinary meltdown by Indonesia's volatile Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat in Sunday's final.
China's Lin Dan returns the shuttlecock to Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat during their men's singles final match at the Japan Badminton Open in Tokyo October 15, 2006.[Reuters] |
Lin triumphed 16-21 21-16 21-3 to continue his rich vein of form after the Chinese world number one captured the world title in Madrid last month.
But Taufik's collapse in the final game took some of the gloss off a marquee showdown between two of the game's biggest players.
"Taufik seemed to give up when I took the lead in the third set," Lin told reporters. "I couldn't cope with his speed in the first game. The first two games were very close."
Former world number one Taufik was docked ranking points after storming out of a match against Lin at the Hong Kong Open in August in protest at a line call.
Women's number one Zhang Ning saved three match points to beat fellow Chinese Xie Xingfang 21-11 16-21 30-29 in their earlier singles final in Tokyo.
Xie had beaten Zhang in the women's final in Madrid to win the women's world title for the second year running.
