Singapore, April 13 (IANS): World No. 1 shuttler Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia suffered a major upset in his bid to win a fourth Super Series title this year as he lost to Indonesia’s Simon Santoso in the Singapore Open final here Sunday.
World No. 52 Santoso won the first game 21-15 and led most of the second. Lee won six consecutive points to make it 10-12 but again lagged behind before surrendering 10-21 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, reports Xinhua.
Lee said he was surprised by the unseeded Indonesian adding that he had “nothing to lose” here as he had to be more selective to stay healthy at 31.
Santoso had been troubled by injuries and infections since late 2012.
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“It has been a very tough period for me, especially with the injuries. I hope I will be able to go back to where I was. But there are still a lot of things I need to work on in terms of training. So it is a long way to go. In future, I would like to work on being more stable,” said the 28-year-old, who was recently dropped from the Indonesian national team.
The women’s singles final was a repeat of last year’s Olympic final with China’s World No. 3 Yihan Wang beating World No. 1 and Olympic champion Li Xuerui 21-11, 21-19 to retain the title. Wang said she now hopes to do well in the upcoming Uber Cup in May in New Delhi.
Chinese men’s doubles duo Cai Yun and Lu Kai, who teamed up a few months back, downed sixth seeded Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-14 to win their first major trophy.
In women’s doubles, China’s World No.3 pair Bao Yixin-Tang Jinhua beat top seeded Christinna Pedersen-Kamilla Rytter Huhl of Denmark 14-21, 21-19, 21-15. The Danish players said they did not find solutions in the last two games.
While in mixed doubles, Indonesia’s top seeded Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir defeated compatriots Riky Widianto-Puspita Richi Dili 21-15, 22-20.
