Tontowi-Liliyana on a roll

Sunday, March 18, 2012 - Pictures by Badmintonphoto (archive)
Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (below), made it back-to-back European titles when they won the Yonex Swiss Open on Sunday.
The top seeds, who won their first Yonex All England Superseries Premier title a week ago, were too good for Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam, winning 21-16, 21-14.
The Indonesians had struggled in the earlier rounds, but were in top form in the title decider.
In the men’s singles, Chen Jin did his Olympic qualification hopes a world of good by beating South Korea’s Lee Hyun Il in a hard-fought battle lasting 67 minutes.
World No. 5 Chen Jin has to be inside the top four to qualify for the London Games as he has Lin Dan and Chen Long ahead of him – each country can only have three representatives in the Olympics if their players are among the top four in the world, otherwise, it is two among the top 16.
Against the veteran Hyun Il, the Chinese star was sluggish at the beginning and it took him a while before he could find any rhythm.
As a result, Hyun Il dominated the opening game, before Chen Jin (left), whose only individual title last season came at the Singapore Open when Lin Dan wasn’t feeling well and conceded a walkover in the final, came back strongly to make a big fight out of the final.
In the end, Chen Jin went home with the title with a 14-21, 21-9, 21-17, victory.
Japan’s Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato took home the men’s doubles crown after beating Taipei’s Fang Chieh Min-Lee Sheng Mu 21-13, 21-14.




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