All England: Glory for Lee Zii Jia, Okuhara
Lee Zii Jia joined the elite list of winners of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships after coming through in a cracker of a final against defending champion Viktor Axelsen.
· DEV SUKUMAR & DIANNE PIERRE
In the match of the tournament – and one of the best finals of recent times – Lee and Axelsen were involved in a titanic duel through the first two games before the effort proved too much for the defending champion, who was in his seventh straight final.
Lee was in his first major final, but he showed no sign of being overawed. Instead, he played at a scintillating pace, his attack unwavering in intensity, and his defence standing up to the task of parrying the incoming missiles. With Axelsen too throwing everything into the contest, what unfolded was an absorbing duel.
The opening game went down the wire and Lee took it at 30-29 after Axelsen had saved seven game points; the Dane fought back in the second from 14-18 down and forced the decider. But the sheer intensity of the match through the first two games had cost him too much.