At the World Championships last year, Li Jinhui and Liu Yuchen were number one seeds, but suffered a shock defeat in their opening match. In 2018, it was a repeat of the Asia Championship final that gained them the gold medal.

Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda, picked up the Malaysia and Thailand Open titles since their Asia Championship final defeat in Wuhan, China. They hoped to drive forward this momentum and reverse the result on the very biggest stage. Especially after the confidence gained with the victory of this year’s number one seeds, Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon. 

However, Li and Liu were empowered by the home support and fought passionately for every point. After the first game ran away from the Japanese duo, they upped the tempo in the second game and seemed in control, with a likely deciding game to come. However, the very late surge from Li and Liu stunned them into submission, and the last cheers and celebration of this year’s World Championship went to the home crowd, for the former World Junior Champions just 5 years ago. The match ended 21-12, 21-19.

Find all the matches from finals day at Total BWF World Championships here.

Find all the videos of finals day at the Badmintonworldtv channel here.