Sports

By, C.H. Lim


TOKYO: World Number One Datuk Lee Chong Wei met Lin Dan of China at the Japan Open and squeezed his past old foe to win the men's singles title at the Japan Open on Sunday.

World No.1 Player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei

The top-seeded Malaysian, who reached the final without losing a game, needed a tough 81 minutes before scoring a 22-20, 16-21, 21-17 victory over the three-time former world champion.

“This is my second victory in the Japan Open. I targeted my goal this year to win the All England and the Japan Open, so I’m very happy that I won both of them,” said Lee.

 “I couldn’t play well in the Thomas Cup and I got an injury in Paris and failed to win the World Championships, and now I’m going to aim at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in November.”

Lin, winner here in 2005 and 2006, used his unstoppable smashes to even the contest at one game each, hitting a sudden attack at the net at 20-16 in the second.

But Lee kept a narrow lead in the final game, and although he was close to be tied at 11-10 and 15-14, took four points in a row to lead 19-15.

Lee took a commanding 20-17 lead when Lin hit an overhead wide, and finished off the struggling Chinese with a backhand winner.

“I changed the rhythm in the final game and increased the speed of the shuttle to lead 11-7. I didn’t rush too much when I was close to be tied and tried to keep attacking at my pace,” said Lee.

It was Lee’s seventh title of the season.

By M.K. Lim

Canada : A Georgian lude slider, Nodar Kumaritashivili competing at the died on the in February due to an accident during his training.


     Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled during training, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Centre.

    He qualified for the loge men's singles event at the 2010 Winter Olympics which would be his Olympic debut.

     Rescue workers were at Kumaritashvili's side within seconds to perform chest compression and mouth-to-mouth resescitation .The 21-year-old luger died at the hospital.