TOKYO: Japanese players claimed titles in four of the five categories at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, Britain, on Sunday.

In the mixed doubles final, Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino beat the fellow Japanese pair of Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo 2-0, winning the title for the first time in three years. It was their second championship at the All England Open.

Hiroyuki Endo and Watanabe captured the men’s doubles title for the second successive year by defeating Japanese rivals Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura 2-1.

In the women’s doubles, Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto won their first All England Open title by beating Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota also from Japan, the previous year’s champions, 2-0.

Nozomi Okuhara clinched the women’s singles title for the first time in five years. It was her second All England Open crown.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia won his first title at the championships in the men’s singles. He beat Japan’s Kento Momota in the quarterfinal match.

In this year’s All England Open tournament, competitors from China and South Korea did not participate.

JIJI Press