Sung Hwan Park clinches the men’s singles crown of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011
Korea’s Sung Hwan Park clinches the men’s singles title after beating compatriot Lee Hyun Il in the final showdown of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, at Basel today, March 21. The number four seed, Park took 68 minutes to prove his worth in a three-set
final against Lee Hyun, who thrashed the second seed Simon Santoso of Indonesia in the semi-final of the event.
It was an epic battle between the two most celebrated Koreans in front of the packed Indoor Arena at Basel, Switzerland. In the opening game, Lee Hyun dictated the pace of the game by employing his extensive experience of the game.
Lee Hyun is famous for his incredible defence and occasional powerful jump smashes that put him ahead of others. Till the one-minute interval of the opening set, the senior Korean was leading the game by an 11-8 margin.
The match became thrilling when Park levelled the score 15-15. Both shuttlers were playing at maximum speed and it was Lee Hyun who played better badminton in the end and won the first set by a 21-17 margin, in 25 minutes.
Stung by the loss of the opening set, Park bounced back in the second set. He kept the pace high and became more aggressive by hitting down the line smashes together with net killings. The fourth seed took a comfortable lead of 11-5 in the first half of
the second set.
After the one-minute break, Park continued his impressive run, and by sparing no chance for the elder teammate, won the second set 21-19, in just 15 minutes.
In the decider, the crowd couldn't have expected for a more interesting fight as both players remained very close till the end of the first half, where Park was slightly ahead at 11-10. Getting back into the court after the 60-second break, Park increased
the speed of the game as his opponent became a little slow.
The fourth seed extended his lead and eventually won the third set by a four-point difference at 21-17, in 28 minutes of hard labour. The final score of the title match was, 17-21, 21-9 and 21-17.
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