China's Lin Dan returns the shuttlecock to

Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat during their men's singles final match at

the Japan Badminton Open in Tokyo October 15,

2006.[Reuters]

World champion Lin Dan won the Japan Open title after an

extraordinary meltdown by

Indonesia's volatile Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat in Sunday's

final.Lin triumphed 16-21 21-16 21-3 to continue his rich vein of

form after the Chinese world number one captured the world title in Madrid

last month.

But Taufik's collapse in the final game took some of the gloss off

a showdown between two of

the game's biggest players.

"Taufik seemed to give up when I took the lead in the third set," Lin

told reporters. "I couldn't cope with his speed in the first game. The

first two games were very close."

Former world number one Taufik was docked ranking points after storming

out of a match against Lin at the Hong Kong Open in August in protest at a

line call.

Women's number one Zhang Ning saved three match points to beat fellow

Chinese Xie Xingfang 21-11 16-21 30-29 in their earlier singles final in

Tokyo.

Xie had beaten Zhang in the women's final in Madrid to win the women's

world title for the second year running. (Agencies)