Lin wins Japan Open

The victory is significant for Lin as he sets his sights on a third consecutive men’s singles title at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Lin Dan, the men's singles champion at the Japan Open, unfurls the Chinese National Flag during the awards ceremony.

Chinese badminton legend Lin Dan won the men’s singles title at the Japan Open on September 12, defeating Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the final.

Lin, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and five-time World champion, defeated the 21-year-old Dane 21-19, 16-21, 21-19.

The victory was significant for Lin as he sets his sights on a third consecutive men’s singles title at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He suffered a setback in August with defeat at the hands of Denmark’s Jan O. Jorgensen in the World Championships in Indonesia.

“I am training hard to prepare for Rio – the Olympics is our main focus now – but I don’t want to think too much at this moment about what I might achieve there,” he said on the Rio Games website early this month.

In the women’s singles final, local star Akane Yamaguchi, the winner of the Japan Open in 2013, failed to reclaim the crown when she went down against compatriot Nozomi Okuhara.

Okuhara, seeded No. 9, who downed Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan in the semi-finals, defeated Yamaguchi 21-18, 21-12.