After his remarkable India Open title win, the Paris Olympics gold medalist shuttler Viktor Axelsen said that his game did not feel like ‘smooth sailing’ at all and he struggled during the start of his match.

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The Danish star said, "I moved a little stiffly in defence at the beginning of the game, but then I started to find my rhythm and I started to feel better.”

Despite his win, Axelsen emphasised that he is far from his best form. “I am far from my best at the moment actually. So that is a very good sign that I am winning here. I haven’t really had a good training block for a long time. If I can structure together like four weeks of proper training, then I feel like I can be in an even better place and compete for the biggest titles,” the 31-year-old said.

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The Dane said the win reignited his motivation after a quiet period, following his Olympic victory in Paris.

“The first one as a 31-year-old. I was in my first final here 10 years ago, which is crazy. It feels very surreal to win this for the third time in my sixth final. It is amazing,” Axelsen said.

Viktor Axelsen, An Se Young clinch singles titles

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Paris Olympic champions Axelsen and South Korea’s An Se Young registered thumping victories to clinch the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively in the India Open 2025 on Sunday (Jan 19).

Axelsen defeated Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-16, 21-8 to clinch his third India Open men’s singles crown, while An Se Young had little trouble packing off Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 21-9 in the women’s singles final.

Results:

Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) beat Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hong Kong) 21-16, 21-8

Women’s singles: An Se Young (South Korea) beat 8-Pornpawee Chochuwong (Thailand) 21-12, 21-9

Men’s doubles: Goh Sze Fei/Nu Izzuddin (Malaysia) beat Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae (South Korea) 21-15, 13-21, 21-16

Women’s doubles: Arisa Igarashi/Ayako Sakuramoto (Japan) beat Kim Hye Jang/Kong Hee Young (South Korea) 21-15, 21-13

Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin (China) beat Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (France) 21-18, 21-17

(With inputs from agencies)