Malaysian top seed Lee Chong Wei brushed aside Thai challenger Boonsak Ponsana to claim his first Asian Championship (ABC) men's singles crown yesterday.

Thailand's other big hope was in the mixed doubles, but Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam lost their crown after a hard-fought three-game thriller to top seeds and world champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia..

The emphatic straight-games victory over Boonsak was Lee's second title in a week after triumphing at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

"It has been a satisfying week for me but the ABC crown is more meaningful. People have been saying that it has been a long time since a Malaysian won the men's singles title," said Lee.

"So I have given my best and delivered the title again and now I can look forward to the Thomas Cup finals in Tokyo at the end of the month," he said.

The last Malaysian to win the ABC men's singles title was Foo Kok Keong in 1994 in Shanghai.

At the start of the US$120,000 tournament Lee openly doubted whether he had enough left in the tank to win, but the world No 2 took only 35 minutes to demolish his Thai opponent.

Boonsak's game plan to engage Lee at the net failed, and he also struggled with a flurry of baseline smashes from the Malaysian.

"He deserved the victory. I made far too many mistakes to trouble him," said Boonsak.

After Lee took the opener 21-12 there was a hint of a fightback from the Thai player in the second, which at one stage he led 9-4.

But with the crowd solidly behind their local hero, Lee regained the upper hand and showed his clear superiority by cruising to victory at 21-16.

It was the Boonsak's third loss to the Malaysian star. Their two last meets four months ago at the SEA Games team event in Manila saw Lee triumph in three games under the 15-point format system. For his victory, Lee won $10,000 (Bt400,000), with Boonsak taking home $5,000.

Earlier yesterday, Indonesian top seeds Widianto and Natsir proved what world champions are made of by dethrone the defending champions and second seeds Sudket and Saralee 21-16 21-23 21-15.

Wang Chen successfully defended her women's singles crown in a hard-fought three-game win over Japan's Kaori Mori that lasted 55 minutes.

It was a repeat of last year's final in Hyderabad, India, where the China-born player who now represents Hong Kong won in straight games under the 15-point format. This time she had a much tougher job on her hands.

"Mori fought so hard and she adopted an attacking attitude, which makes it difficult for me. But it was my experience which saw me through," she said.

China, the world's badminton powerhouse, was not left out of the winner's list with their women's doubles pair of Yu Yang and Du Jing overcoming their much more fancied opponents Chien Yu Chin and Cheng Wen Hsing of Taiwan.

The men's doubles finals was an all-Malaysian affair, with the title carried off in convincing style by the experienced pair of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah.

They overcame the youthful tenacity of fellow Malaysians Hoon Thien How and Tan Boon Heong in three games to take home the winner's cheque.

After an opening-game victory by the 2004 World Junior champions, the Choong and Lee combination regrouped and worked their way back into contention in a display of youth over experience.

The Nation, Agencies

JOHOR BARU