China's Li/Liu rally to defend title at badminton Asian Championships

WUHAN, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Reigning champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China claimed a sensational men's doubles win at the badminton Asian Championships here on Sunday, coming from one game down to overcome Japan's Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 11-21, 21-10, 21-13 to defend their title.

"It's a game worth carefully reviewing and summarizing," Li said, "We had a poor start in the first game, but we restored in the second and levelled the score. In the third, our confidence was back."

The first game was in the Japanese duo's side, as the third seeds went onto the court with tons of energy to close it 21-11.

"The first game was good, but the second and the third were not," Sonoda said.

The home stars changed their strategy in the second game, played with more patience and line changes. It turned out to work very well as they pulled the match to 1-1 tie.

"Our opponents adjusted quickly on the court, but we failed to responded their changes well in the second game," Sonoda added.

The Chinese players extended their momentum in the decider and their rivals were unable to stop them from lifting the trophy anymore.

It was China's second title of the day, as Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in an early action carved out a 21-17, 21-17 win over top-seeded Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia to claim the mixed double.

The men's single title went to Kento Momota of Japan, who defeated reigning champion Chen Long of China 21-17, 21-13. Enditem