Chinese badminton player Huang Yuxiang. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese badminton player Huang Yuxiang defeated Riichi Takeshita of Japan in the final of the Badminton World Federation's 2016 New Zealand Open held at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland on Sunday.
The 13th seed Huang turned back Takeshita, who had also won the said tournament in 2013, in straight sets, 21-12, 21-17 to grab the Men's Singles title inside of 43 minutes, as reported by Fox Sports.
It was the first BWF career title for the 23-year-old, who eliminated no. 1 seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea in the quarterfinals, 21-19, 21-19, before pulling off a 21-18, 21-17 victory over Malaysia's Teck Zhi Soo in the semifinals to earn the right to face Takeshita in the final round.
"Riichi has won in New Zealand twice before in competitions so to win here gives me a lot of confidence for the future," said Huang, as per Inside the Games. "I am happy with how I played and now look ahead to the Olympic Games and hopefully as part of the Chinese team."
The current world no. 51 is hoping to be included in the tough Chinese badminton contingent in the coming Rio Summer Olympics this August.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun captured the Women's Singles title by beating Japan's Aya Ohori also in straight sets, 21-15, 21-17, while her compatriots Ko Sung-hyun and Shin Baek-cheol won in the Men's Doubles category over Indonesia's pair of Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi, 21-18, 21-14.
The Japanese unseeded tandem of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota stunned the second-seeded South Korean pair of Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee, who had just come off a "marathon semi-final success" the day before, 21-13, 21-16, in the final of the Women's Doubles category.
Chang and Lee started slowly which allowed Fukushima and Hirota to take a lopsided first set. The Koreans opened the second set strongly and had led 4-1 early, but the Japanese twosome were able to gain back momentum to end the set on a 20-12 run.
Lastly, in the Mixed Doubles category, Huang's countrymen Zheng Siwei and Li Yinhui were nipped by the Malaysian duo of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying also in straight sets, 21-19, 22-20.
