Top seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia was crowned the men’s singles champion of the Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open Grand Prix 2015 after overcoming second seed Lee Hyun-il from the Republic of Korea (RoK) in a tense final match on August 30.

Despite Lee’s stubborn resistance, Sugiarto scored crucial points at decisive moments in the match to win the two sets by the same score of 21-19.

With this victory, Sugiarto received US$3,750 in prize money, adding 5,500 bonus points to his BWF world ranking.

Surprise was seen in the women’s singles category as two unseeded players, Saena Kawakami of Japan and Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia met in the final encounter, in which Kawakami beat Fitriani 2-1 (26-24, 18-21, 21-10) to take the overall crown.

Chinese duo, Huang Kaixiang and Huang Dongping overcame RoK pair, Choi Sol-kyu Chae Yoo-jung 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) to win the mixed doubles event, while the men’s and women’s doubles titles went to Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen (China) and Jongkophan and Rawinda (Thailand) respectively.

Vietnamese players were not successful at this year’s tournament, with the premier men’s player Nguyen Tien Minh bidding farewell in the third round of the men’s singles and top female player Vu Thi Trang knocked out of the women’s singles event right from the first round.

The annual competition took place at Nguyen Du gymnasium in Ho Chi Minh City from August 24 to 30, drawing the participation of 350 badminton players from 23 countries and territories around the world. A total cash prize of US$50,000 was up for grabs; with US$3,750 and US$3,950 being awarded to each singles and doubles title.

Nhan Dan