Oh! Its Wan-Ho

The sense of inevitability wasnt misplaced as he stormed back,winning six points in a row to get within touching distance of his title. But incredibly Wan-Ho found a second wind. If fighting off the pressure of his maiden Super Series final wasnt tough enough,Shon also had to deal with the experience,speed and lighting smashes from the agile Malaysian.

However,at 19-18 Chong Wei made two crucial mistakes both unforced errors. The 22-year-old Korean held a match point. While most would have played safe and served short,Wan-Ho paused.

The wait was long enough for him to notice that the best player in the world was leaning forward. He waited for Wei to commit and only when the momentum had forced the Malaysian forward,did he serve to the half court. Chong Wei only managed to land the shuttle into the net. Wan-Ho collapsed on the court in celebration of his upset 21-18 14-21 21-19 victory.

For Wan-Ho,who hadnt even qualified for the Olympics until an earlier upset over Peter Gade in the quarter final of this competition the win was the perfect finish. I was glad that I had simply qualified for the Olympics but it feels great to win my first Super Series, he said.

Wan-Ho,who despite an error-strewn performance beat Parupalli Kashyap in the semifinals,was largely flawless in the final. On the other hand,it was Chong Wei who wasnt at his best.

While there were concerns that Chong Wei,who was playing his first tournament since pulling out of the final of the All England Championship last year with injury was still carrying the effects of his ailment,the Malaysian was more gracious. The injury isnt bothering me anymore. I simply played a bad game and Shon played an exceptional game. I made mistakes at crucial times, he said.

Wan-Hos superb recovery skills largely negated Chong Weis smash in the first game. While errors came from the Malaysian they were forced by the persistence of the Korean red hot in that game sending the shuttle tumbling consistently over the net from his side and finding the lines with regularity. It was a run that was too good to maintain.

The Malaysian was on track in the second game. And while the momentum shifted again in the third,with the Korean opening up leads of 9-4,15-10 and 18-13,Chong Wei kept clawing back. I was leading comfortably so I was confident but when he kept getting back I got nervous. Luckily,I was able to keep my focus. When I got the chance to serve for the match it was able to make it count, said Wan-Ho.

Scare for Li

In the womens event,sixth seed Juliane Schenk of Germany took a game off Chinas World No 4 Xuerui Li before eventually losing 21-14 17-21 8-21. Schenk who had beaten two Chinese World No 2 Shixian Wang and giant-killer Xiao Jia Chen en route to the final started strong but ran out steam against Li who added the Super Series to the Asian Badminton Championships and All England title she had won this season.

Initially surprised by Schenks strategy of committing to long rallies,Li eventually found her feet in the second game and raced to an 8-0 lead. While Schenk would draw close at 16-17,Li took the game and with it the momentum into the decider. Li would pull away in the decider,completely overwhelming Schenk. She led 11-5 at the break and would take another six straight points to extend the lead to 17-5. The Chinese moved to the match point soon after,sealing the win with an unanswered smash.

Results: mixed doubles: Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir INA bt Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam THA 21-16 12-21 21-14; womens singles: Xuerui Li CHN bt Juliane Schenk GER14-21 21-17 21-8; mens singles: Shon Wan Ho KOR bt Lee Chong Wei MAS 21-18 14-21 21-19; mens doubles: Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit THA bt Sung Hyun Ko and Yeon Seong Yoo KOR 21-17 14-21 21-14; womens doubles: Kim Na Ha and Kyung Eun Jung KOR bt Yixin Bao and Qianxin Zhong CHN 21-17 21-18