2012 BWF Superseries Finals: Chen Long overwhelms Daren Liew in group stage of Men’s Singles event
China’s badminton ace Chen Long served notice of his supremacy in the group stage of BWF Superseries Finals and toppled Daren Liew on Thursday, December 13, 2012.
This epic tussle prolonged to three gruelling sets before ending with concluding figures of 23-25, 21-8 and 21-12.
Initially, the lower ranked Malaysian campaigner showed great fighting spirit and bagged the opening match point but then Chen Long proceeded with full force and cruised to victory.
The World Number two Chinese shuttler played with great control in the ending two games and saved the honour in local badminton arena of Shenzhen.
In first set of the match, both contenders remained close in the establishing rallies and made the crowd gasp with their mesmerising performance.
However, Chen Long started the beating after 7-7 and managed to finish first half of the set with a respectable score position of 11.
The story was entirely different in latter part of the game as Daren Liew showed a transformed character and outclassed his higher ranked challenger.
World Number 15 Malaysian player clinched eight consecutive points after 10-18 and then did not allow his competitor to reinstate his dominance.
Though, Chen Long prevailed in couple of rallies in the final stage but luck was not on his side and he had to surrender after reading 23-25 margin.
However, the Olympic bronze medallist did not lose heart after this loss and managed to make amends in the following games. He played impeccable badminton and brought the contest to right balance.
The second set started with Chen Long making a swift progress on points table and piling up a mountainous total of 11.
He carried this momentum after the mid-game break and won this crucial game with an impressive result of 21-8.
Third set proved just a formality as Daren Liew hardly put any resistance and knelt down tamely. He looked off colour throughout the decider and this bad patch ultimately led him to a woeful defeat.
On the other hand, Chen Long maintained a significant lead until last shot was played and registered a winning margin of 21-12.
Tags: