Sun shines to first title

BIRMINGHAM, Mar 14: China8217;s Sun Jun swept to his first All England badminton title today with an easy 15-1, 15-7 success over Malaysia8217;s Ong Ewe Hock.Sun, seeded two, has been in brilliant form all week and raced to the championship in just 41 minutes.

As last year, China also won the women8217;s singles here with world champion Ye Zhaoying beating unseeded compatriot Zhang Ning 11-5, 11-8.

Sun, smashing brilliantly, raced into a 6-0 lead then 8-1 in a one-sided first set. He led 9-1 in the second before a brief flicker of resistance from the Malaysian.

From 2-11, Ong managed to get back to 5-11. But Sun moved up the necessary extra gear to give China their second title success in two years in the men8217;s singles, following Don Jiong8217;s win in 1997.