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Either way the drought was over. The only question left on Sunday was who was going to hoist the trophy in Tokyo.

In the end it was men’s doubles world No. 1 team Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan topping compatriots Rian Sukmawan and Yonathan Suryatama to put an end to the country’s eight-month Super Series title drought in the Japan Open final match on Sunday.

Markis and Hendra won 21-19, 24-22 to clinch the title.

Mixed doubles Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir picked up the country’s last Super Series title at the season opener in Malaysia in January.

“This is the moment I’ve been waiting for,” Markis told the Jakarta Globe in a text message. “We finally ended our title drought in Japan. I’m very happy.”

Japan marks the second title of the year for the pair after winning the Asian Championship crown in South Korea in April. The team had been sidelined for most of the season while Markis battled a knee injury and high-blood pressure.

In the men’s singles final, Indonesia fumbled the chance to leave Tokyo with another title when Taufik Hidayat lost 21-15, 21-12 to China’s Bao Chunlai.

Bao was simply too much for the Athens Olympic gold medalist, who seemed to lack his normal luster.

“I played patient. That’s why I won,” Bao said. “I expected it would be a tougher match, so I was surprised that I won in two games.”

Tokyo marked Bao’s fourth title of the season, following victories in the German Open, the Asian Championships and the Singapore Open.

China took two more Super Series titles with big wins in the women’s singles and doubles.

Wang Yihan retained her title after an easy win over compatriot Wang Xin, 21-8, 21-9. Wang said she had improved in every aspect of the game — strokes, physical strength and control of the shuttlecock — since she won her first Super Series victory in Tokyo last year.

Wang picked up her fifth crown of the season, with previous wins coming from the All England, German Open, Swiss Open and Macau Open.

China’s Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli silenced the home crowd by defeating seventh seed Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna, 21-19, 21-18.

But the biggest upset of the tournament came when unseeded Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand downed sixth-seeded Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark, 13-21, 21-16, 22-20, in the mixed doubles final.

“I’m very happy, because this is the first time we won a title outside our country,” Songphon said.

He added that they were following in the footsteps of compatriots Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam, who won the Japan Open mixed doubles final in 2005.

The next Super Series events are the Hong Kong Open and the China Open in November.



JG, AFP