Birmingham: Denmark’s Peter Gade claimed the All England men’s singles title in 1999 in Birmingham, and World No. 7 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark was able to repeat the feat on Sunday after conquering World No. 2 Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-13, 21-14 in 46 minutes.
The Danish shuttler almost lost to World No. 13 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the semi-final had the call goes against him at 19-19. Axelsen clearly didn’t want to take any chances in the final, playing with hyper-aggressive game by unleashing a lot of powerful attacks, smashing to a 16-7, 18-8 lead in the first set before winning the game in 20 minutes.
Axelsen continued his strong attacks in the second game, and Chou just couldn’t find answer to Axelsen’s strong smashes allowing the Dane to close out the second game in 26 minutes.
Winning his first All England title also put Axelsen alongside Danish shuttle legends such as Peter Gade, Morten Frost, and Erland Kops.
“It’s a dream come true for me. Everybody is fighting to win All England, and now I can say I am an All England winner 2020,” said Axelsen.
“It sounds pretty good in my ears, and I am so happy right now,” added Axelsen.
On the other hand, Chou Tien Chen said he has a lot more work to do after the match.
“Axelsen was really fast and was dictating the rhythm. I’ll need to work harder because I am hoping to win a title here,” said Chou.
In men’s doubles, World No. 6 Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe put on a brilliant performance by registering their six consecutive victories against World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia, beating the Indonesians 21-18, 12-21, 21-19 in the 2020 All England Finals.
Yuta Watanabe became the first Japanese player to ever win the All England title in 2 separate events, as he and Arisa Higashino won the All England mixed doubles title in 2018.
