Olympic champion Axelsen wins third India Open crown

Two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen thrashed Lee Cheuk-yiu of Hong Kong to win a record-equalling third India Open badminton title yesterday.The Dane, who crashed out of this month’s Malaysia Open in the first round, beat Lee 21-16, 21-8 in 41 minutes to add to his 2017 and 2019 crowns in New Delhi.Axelsen equals the record of Malaysian great Lee Chong Wei, who won the India Open in 2011, 2013 and 2014.Axelsen jumped with joy on the winning point and urged the crowd to raise the noise after the Indian fans had kept up chants of "Viktor for victory”."After this week, I feel my motivation is coming back,” he said."Since the Olympics I had been struggling with injuries."This week has been very inconsistent for me mentally and game-wise but I am happy that I fought hard and won the title.”In the women’s singles, South Korea’s An Se-young clinched her second successive crown this year in style after the world number one hammered Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 21-9.The Paris Olympics gold medallist was dominant in her victory as she dismantled her opponent in 40 minutes for her 29th career title.The 22-year-old hasn’t dropped a single game in her 10 matches this year.Igarashi and Sakuramoto win women’s doubles title In the paired events, the unseeded Japanese combination of Arisa Igarashi and Ayaka Sakuramoto capped off their giant-killing run with a clinical 21-15, 21-13 victory over South Korea’s Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong in the women’s doubles final.This is only the third tournament for the Japanese combination with Igarashi, nee Arisa Higashino, making a successful shift to women’s doubles from mixed doubles.However, the People’s Republic of China’s second seeds Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin ended the run of the unseeded French combination of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue with a 21-18, 21-17 win in the mixed doubles final.The Malaysian men’s doubles combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin found a way past South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 to clinch the title in the only match that went to the decider.