Badminton Asia C'ships: Wang Zhi Yi wins 2nd gold, Jonatan Christie bags maiden title

World no. 9 Wang Zhi Yi stunned reigning Olympic champion and compatriot Chen Yu Fei to win her second continental women's singles title as China secured three gold medals at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo on Sunday.

World no. 2 Yu Fei suffered a straight-game defeat as Zhi Yi won the summit clash 21-19, 21-7 in 53 minutes. In 2022, Zhi Yi beat Akane Yamaguchi to win her maiden Asia Championships gold.

This was Zhi Yi's second title of the year and her first win against Yu Fei, who had an overwhelming 8-0 head-to-head record against the former prior to Sunday's final.

Zhi Yi won the Indonesia Masters Super 500 title in January.

The win against higher-ranked Yu Fei will help Zhi Yi to break into the top eight of the world rankings next week.

Meanwhile, Jonatan Christie, the runner-up of the 2022 edition, won his second straight men's singles title to grab the continental men's singles gold as he beat Chinese shuttler Li Shi Feng 21-15, 21-16 in a battle that lasted for 54 minutes.

Last month, world no. 5 Christie recovered from his leg injury sustained in 2023 and clinched his maiden All England Open title by beating fellow Indonesian Anthony Ginting.

In the men's doubles final, world no. 19 Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin of Malaysia gave a tough fight to Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang but could not stay up in the fight till the end as the world no. 3 Chinese pair sealed their maiden Asia Championships men's doubles title with a 17-21, 21-15, 21-10 win.

This was Liang and Wang's second title of the year. In January, they won the Malaysia Open Super 1000.

Meanwhile, the Korean duo of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee outclassed China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu to win the women's doubles crown with a straight-game win.

After an intense first game that Baek and Lee won 23-21, they went all out against world no. 7 Zhang and Zheng in the second game (21-12) to seal the match in 66 minutes.

In the mixed doubles final, China's world no. 3 Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping prevailed over world no. 4 Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yu Jung after losing the opening game. Feng and Huang won the gold medal with a 13-21, 21-15, 21-14 win.

With three gold and two silver medals, China emerged as the most successful country at the Badminton Asia Championships 2024.