China Open badminton: Chen Long, Sun Yu disappoint as Sindhu, Jorgensen clinch titles

While Chen failed to win his fourth title, Sindhu won her maiden Superseries crown on Sunday.

Chen Long
Chen squandered an opportunity to win his fourth China Open title Reuters

Reigning Olympic champion Chen Long suffered a shock defeat in the Men's singles final of the 2016 China Open Superseries on 20 November.

The second seed was beaten 22-20, 21-13 by fourth seed Jan O Jorgensen, in the title match that just lasted 46 minutes at Haixia Olympic Sport Center in Fuzhou.

Chen, who was looking primed to take his fourth China Open title after dominating the tournament at home, which did not feature top-ranked shuttlers Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan, looked out of sorts in the big final.

Jorgensen, who had won only one of their last ten meetings before Sunday's clash, looked the more focussed of the two opponents in the final. Notably, his compatriot Viktor Axelsen lost against Chen in the semi-final on Saturday.

The Danish world number six came close to winning the Japan Open right after his Rio Olympic first-round exit but slipped against Lee Chong Wei in the final. However, he lived up to his reputation in China, a venue in which he lost a final seven years ago against the Super Dan.

In the Women's singles, eighth seed local shuttler Sun Yu went down against Rio Games silver medallist PV Sindhu in a hard-fought final contest.

Sindhu became the third Indian after Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal (2015) to win the China Open title after she defeated Sun 21-11, 17-21, 21-11 in an hour and 13 minutes.

Despite winning an Olympic medal, a Superseries title was eluding Sindhu for a while now. She came close to winning one at last year's Denmark Open but lost the final to China's Li Xuerui.

The 21-year-old also faced second round exits at Denmark and France after her Rio campaign but was able to finally get the monkey off her back on Sunday.

PV Sindhu
It has been a good year for the Indian shuttler Reuters

After a draining semi-final against in-form local shuttler He Bingjiao, Sindhu was able to maintain her composure for over an hour in the final, in which saw off a challenge from Sun, who fought back after conceding the first game.

More sports news

READ MORE