China's Shi beats Super Dan to become new All England Open champion

BIRMINGHAM -- China's Shi Yuqi, last year's beaten finalist, defeated compatriot and six-time champion Li Dan to become the fourth winner in 10 years at the All England Open badminton championships here on Sunday.

The seventh seed, 22, has been in excellent form all week and continued that on finals day to prevail 21-19, 16-21, 21-9 in 74 minutes.

"We were quite familiar with each other's tactics and so I varied my normal technique in order to reach the level of performance today," said Shi.

"I feel really happy after being another member of the China national team to win the All England men's singles after Lin Dan and Chen Long.

"I feel really, really happy with this achievement."

In a match of high quality, Lin, nicknamed Super Dan who turns 35 in October, took the lead in the first game but was soon overtaken by the man 12 years his junior.

With the pair level-pegging at 15-15 in the second, Lin turned on the style to take six of the next seven points and turn the game around before Shi took command in the third set and gave the Chinese legend no chance.

A disapointed Lin said: "I think in the first two games it was a normal performance for both me and Shi, but I think in the third game there is a bit of a problem with mentality," said Lin.

"I made more errors so I think that's what I'm not very happy about."