By Paul Osborne

Lee Chong Wei won his third All England Open Badminton Championship title in Birmingham today ©www.badmintonphoto.comMarch 9 - Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei picked up his third All England Open Badminton Championship title at the NIA in Birmingham today with victory over China's defending champion Chen Long.

In a repeat of the final from last year, the world number one, appearing in his sixth successive All England final, dominated proceedings from the word go, eventually coming out on top with a final score of 21-13 21-18 to avenge his defeat in the tournament 12 months ago.

"I am really happy and I tried my best today because I know Chen is a good player who I have lost to several times and I know I need to play my best to beat him," Lee said.

"I think this my last All England, but who knows, I might come back next year but that is why I tried my best to finish first this year.

"I don't know what will happen.

"I have suffered from several injuries, especially my ankle has caused me problems and I was not 100 per cent fit before coming to the All England so I need to go back in rehab, before knowing what the future brings.

"Today there was a great atmosphere and I would like to thank all my Malaysian and English fans for supporting me."

The win means Lee has won both of the first two Badminton World Federation (BWF) Superseries Premier events of the year as he also secured his 10th victory in the Malaysian Open in January.

Chinese players had the opportunity to win four titles at the beginning of the day, with two of these already guaranteed.

One such contest was the women's singles event, which saw China's world number three Wang Shixian overcome compatriot and world number one Li Xuerui 21-19 21-18 to claim her second All England title.

Wang Shixian beat compatriot Li Xuerui to claim the women's singles title at the All England Open Badminton Championship ©Getty ImagesWang Shixian beat compatriot Li Xuerui to claim the women's singles title at the All England Open Badminton Championship ©Getty Images



The same was the case in the women's doubles final, where top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang overcame new pairing Ma Jin and Tang Yuanting in a fine match, edging a narrow third game to win 21-17 18-21 23-21 in the longest final at 81 minutes.

The men's doubles was the only final not to include a Chinese athlete with Indonesia's world champions Muhammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan taking on the Japanese duo of Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa.

In an extremely tight encounter, it was the world champions who came out on top, beating the second seeds 21-19 21-19 to end Indonesia's 11-year wait for a men's doubles All England Super Series Premier title.

"We are very grateful with the result but we are not completely satisfied as we would like to produce honours in the future," Ahsan said.

"It was very tense out there but we just tried to focus on the game, we were not so concerned about the score, but we simply concentrated on each point in the game.

"We are delighted with the fans and would like to send out a thank you to all of them.

"It made us feel like home."

There was more delight for Indonesia in the mixed doubles final as world champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir took the crown for the third year running when they defeated China's Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei 21-13 21-17 in a repeat of last year's final.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
February 2014: Birmingham to host All England Open Badminton Championships until 2021