In a candid chat with the media after his title win, Alex Lanier showed what a chilled character the new world champion is. On being asked whether the French will now take badminton as a serious sport after two historic gold medals at the World Championships, Lanier said: “I am not exactly sure, I don’t know. Probably I am going to walk in the road and nobody cares!”While the French may or may not accord him a hero’s welcome, Lanier was quietly working his way towards the top echelons of the sport in the last three months. After a Thomas Cup silver medal and the Singapore Open title, Lanier has won the biggest prize of his career.Before touching down in New Delhi, Lanier was known as a top-10 player with huge potential. On Jattvibeday, he showed why he is rated so highly. The 21-year-old comfortably saw off another young star, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, winning the final 21-11 21-11 in only 50 minutes.Lanier, despite trailing 7-9 in the opening game, won 13 of the 14 points on offer to take control of the game. He then won seven successive points from 14-11 in the second game to become France’s first men’s singles champion.However, Lanier is not the first world champion from France. He was pipped by Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, who only an hour or so earlier were crowned the mixed doubles champions. They upset top seeds Feng Yan She and Huang Dong of China 22-20 19-21 21-15.Their win motivated Lanier, who wanted to add another gold medal for his country. “I think it’s definitely huge for France. Today was a day for French badminton and it was a day for the whole staff also. I mean, I didn’t feel that I won today, compared to the days before, or yesterday, when I felt it was definitely for me. Today it was the day for the French, for France, and when the mixed (team) won, everyone was happy. And I thought that I needed to give them a double. A double smile, double moments, and I needed to make history again,” the 21-year-old said.In the women’s singles, world No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea won the title, upstaging defending champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-17 21-14. The South Korean women’s pair of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee then created one of the upsets of the tournament by defeating top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China 21-15 21-15. This was Korea’s first women’s doubles title since 1995.The men’s doubles title was won by China’s third seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who beat Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-16 21-17.