Axelsen, Young reign supreme

It was the Dane's 3rd title while it was a 2nd win for Korea's An at India's premier badminton event

- Sandip Sikdar

NEW DELHI: For many elite athletes across sports, a lot has changed since them peaking at the Paris Olympics. Not that much for Viktor Axelsen or An Se Young. Gold medallists at the French capital five months ago, they continue to stamp their authority in the game, clinching the top prize at the $950,000 India Open badminton tournament on Sunday.

While Danish third seed Axelsen showed his absolute dominance, thrashing Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-16, 21-8 to clinch his third men's singles crown at the Super 750 event, Korean world No. 1 An was sublime in dispatching Thai Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 21-9 in the women's singles final at a packed KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here.

Axelsen against Lee was expected to be a close affair with the latter having beaten the two-time Olympic champion last week in the first round of the Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur. In addition, the Dane had struggled to close out his quarter-final and semi-final matches. But the final turned out to be lopsided.