China’s Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei added a world championship title to their Olympic crown in Copenhagen on Sunday by defeating compatriots Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli in the women’s doubles final.
Tian and Qing, who won Olympic gold at London 2012, secured the first gold medal of these championships with a 21-19, 21-15 victory over their fourth seeded opponents to claim their maiden world title.
The fifth-seeded pairing also completed their collection of world medals having finished as runners-up in 2011 before claiming bronze a year ago.
Tian and Qing used a sequence of four successive points from 10-8 down to take control of the first game before Zhao capitalised on the couple’s third set point when she intercepted a mid-court rally.
Yu, a three-time defending champion, and her partner Wang, gold medallist in 2011 and 2013, were then leading the second set 14-13 before their rivals pocketed seven straight points to move to the cusp of the title with Zhao and Tian then dropping to their knees in celebration as the former found the open court on match point.
The win gave the experienced Zhao a seventh world championship medal after another a 2009 silver and 2010 bronze in the same event as well as gold (2011) and bronze (2013) in the mixed doubles.