Malang: China’s World No. 47 Weng Hong Yang overwhelmed compatriot Len Lan Xi in straight sets 21-10, 21-10 Sunday to win the 2022 Indonesia International Challenge.
Weng who also won the 2022 Korea Open, is expected to jump to World No. 39 in next week’s Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.
The women’s singles final saw China’s Gao Fang Jie win her first title in 5 years, beating the 2019 World Junior champion Riko Gunji of Japan 21-9, 21-11. Gao claimed her last international title at the 2017 Korea Masters when she defeated Lee Jang-mi of Korea 21–19, 21–5 in the final.
However, Gao suffered a potentially career-ending injury when she broke her Achilles tendon in the left ankle and had to be wheeled out of the court during the women’s singles second-round match against Carolina Marin at 2019 Malaysia Masters.
The hosts – Indonesia, became the biggest winner of the tournament when they clinched the men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles titles.
Men’s doubles No. 5 seeds – Rahmat Hidayat/Pramudya Kusumawardana pulled off a hard-fought victory when they beat No. 3 seeds – Hiroki Okamura/Masayuki Onodera of Japan 23-21, 16-21, 21-15 for the men’s doubles title.
With the benefit of having the local fans behind them, unseeded women’s doubles pair Lanny Tria Mayasari/Ribka Sugiarto took the momentum of a strong home court advantage to beat No. 4 seeds Sayaka Hobara/Hinata Suzuki 21-16, 21-18 in the final.
Earlier Sunday, mixed doubles No. 2 seeds Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja won the first title for Indonesia when they survived a spirited challenge from Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin of China to win 21-18, 22-20.
