VietNamNet Bridge – Nineteen-year-old Japanese badminton player Nozomi Okuhara won the women's singles title at her first attempt following a convincing 21-15, 21-11 victory over compatriot Aya Ohorial at the Yonex-Sunrise Viet Nam GP Open 2014 yesterday, Sept 7.

Top two: Nozomi Okuhara (right) and her compatriot Aya Ohori get receive their medals and prize money after the final at the Tan Binh Indoor Stadium in HCM City.

In the final, played at the Tan Binh Indoor Stadium in HCM City yesterday afternoon, Okuhara, the 2012 World Junior champion, had a slow start to allow Ohori a 11-10 lead at the break before coming back strongly to claim the set 21-15.

The second set was even more lopsided with Okuhara racing to a lead 5-11 at the break. Ohori seemed not to be in her best form for the final, and made too many unforced errors as Okuhara quickly took the set 21-11 to win her first Viet Nam Open title.

"She is as good a player but today she was not as good as she is used to be. She actually beat me before but today was my day because she made too many mistakes," Ohuhara said after the final.

Indonesian players won all the four remaining events at Viet Nam's biggest annual badminton tournament, with the women's doubles and mixed doubles finals being all-Indonesian affairs.

Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka overcame India's Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar 18-21, 21-15, 21-18 to win his first title at the competition.

"I did not push him hard enough in the first set so Prannoy was able to control the shuttle well. But I pushed harder in the two later sets and piled on a lot of pressure and it worked because Prannoy made more and more mistakes," Rumbaka said after the match.

Prannoy was pleased with second place after three attempts at the competition, and said that the poor starts in the second and third sets cost him the title.

In the men's doubles, top-seeded duo Andrei Adistia and Hendra Aprida Gunawan staged a dramatic comeback by saving four match points in the second set to overcome Japanese duo Kenta Kazuno and Kazushi Yamada 15-21, 23-21, 21-17 to claim the title.

"When we were trailing 17-20 in the second set we had nothing to lose and just focused on the game, and fortunately our opponents gave away points and the set. In the third and final set, our confidence had a massive boost and everything became easier for us," said Gunawan.

It was an all-Indonesian women's doubles final with pairing Geovani Mareta Dea and Rosyita Eka Putri Sari edging their compatriots Gebby Ristiyani Imawan and Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut 21-19, 15-21, 21-10.

In the mixed doubles, Indonesia's top-seeded paring Muhammad Rijal and Vita Marissa easily outclassed their young compatriots and second-seeded pair Irfan Fadhilah and Weni Anggraini in the final to win their first title at the competition.

Source: VNS