Sports -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 24, 2003 18:25 PM Chen Hong Retains Title With Hard-earned Win SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- Top seed Chen Hong of China retained the men's singles title in the Singapore Open badminton championship by beating teammate Chen Yu in three games in the final here on Sunday. Chen Hong recovered from a first-game defeat to beat his less experienced opponent 11-15, 15-8, 15-4. Chen Yu played at a furious pace to surprise the defending champion in the opening game. However, Chen Hong changed strategy in the second game by resorting to net play and sharp drops. This forced Chen Yu to lift the shuttle, allowing the powerful Chen Hong to collect points with his smashes to win 15-8. In the decider, Chen Hong used the same tactic to easily win 15-4. Chen Hong collected US$13,600 for his win while Chen Yu earned US$6,800. In the all-China women's singles final, newly crowned world champion Zhang Ning beat Zhou Mi 11-0, 11-8. Zhang Ning walked away with US$11,730 while Zhou Mi received US$5,610. In the women's doubles, Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen of China defeated teammates Gao Ling/Huang Sui 17-16, 15-7 to walk away with US$10,370. The losing finalists got US$6,800. The men's doubles saw an upset with Jens Eriksen/Martin Lungaard Hansen beating world champions Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen 15-9, 15-10 in an all-Danish final. The winners got US$12,240 and the losers, US$6,800. The mixed doubles title went to South Korea's Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min, who defeated China's Zheng Bo and Zhang Jiewen 15-5, 15-9. -- BERNAMA
