The men’s and women’s singles finals at the India Open 2014 were a repeat of the All England finals, with Wang Shi Xian once again beating compatriot Li Xue Rui and “badminton king” Lee Chong Wei seeming to have worked out the best way to handle his arch rival.

 

China’s top men’s singles player Chen Long, beating him for the second time in a row after overcoming Chen at the All England tournament. This win by Lee left him with nine wins, ahead of Chen by one win, in their 17 career meetings, and also gave him an unprecedented 38th Super Series title.

 

The swap of partners this week by the winners and runners-up at the All England in the women’s doubles, Yu Yang／Wang Xiao Li and Ma Jin／Tang Yuan Ting, was also a big talking point. The two pairs met in the semi-finals and Yu Yang／Tang Yuan Ting won. In the final, Yu／Tang were unable to overcome the shortcoming of having insufficient tacit understanding but they stayed calm and were able to come from behind to beat Jung Kyung Eun／Kim Ha Na in the deciding third game in the final.

 

In the men’s doubles, Denmark’s No. 1 pair Boe／Mogensen beat Liu Xiao Long／Qiu Zi Han 17-21, 21-15,21-15, taking their second Super Series title this year after their win at the VICTOR Korea Open. The mixed doubles title was also taken by Denmark. In a one hour and seven minute long match, Nielsen／Pedersen beat Ko Sung Hyun／Kim Ha Na after a tough struggle.  

 

Starting from March, the Korea’s mixed doubles pair of Ko Sung Hyun／Kim Ha Na have performed consistently well, bagging second at the German Grand Prix and reaching the semi-finals at the All England, taking their world ranking to a career highest 6th.They played at the India Open as fourth seeds and, in the semi-finals, knocked out Tontowi Ahmad／Liliyana Natsir who completed a hat trick of successive title wins at the All England Badminton Championships;unfortunately they were, however, unable to overcome Danish opposition in the final. It is worth noting that Kim Ha Na played flawlessly, not only did she attack energetically she showed no signs of injury, showing that she is fully recovered from the injury she sustained at the end of last year. Her fans can at last stop worrying and look forward to Kim serving up some more thrilling performances. 

 

Highly popular XD pair - Ko Sung Hyun／Kim Ha Na

 

After withdrawing from the Korea Grand Prix and the VICTOR China open due to injury at the end of last year, the highly popular Kim decided to take a break from competition to recuperate; she made her first appearance after her break at the German Open at the end of February, and she showed no signs of any ill effects from her time away from competition;on the contrary, she bagged one title and one second place; the two runner-up places she recorded at the India Open was her best ever result at Super Series event.

 

There was also some important news off court this week. The BWF announced on April 5 that it has reached an agreement with the company that makes Hawk-Eye to use the system at Super Series and other important events in the future. The India Open was an official trial event for the system. BWF secretary general Thomas Lund said “We have been testing various systems and we have determined Hawk-Eye to be the most trusted and reliable option by which to track line-call challenges.”