Hans Kristian Vittinghus Takes Irish Title
The partnership of Adcock and Bankier might be a new one, but the history of the players gave you an idea that it would be a successful one. Bankier reached #12 in the world with Robert Blair in 2008/9 and Adcock has been part of the GB Olympic set-up for a number of years.
They wasted little time in Ireland securing their second title in three weeks with a two game, 26 minute victory over Skovgaard and Andersen of Denmark, winning 21-13, 21-11. Scottish success was doubled as 2nd seeded Susan Egelstaff won her first title of 2010, defeating a Dane of her own in Karina Jorgensen, winning 23-21, 21-8.
The men’s singles was a much tighter affair, with Vittinghus and Abian sharing the opening two games and the third going all the way to 20-20 and beyond. It was the top seeded Dane that eventually came through, taking the third game 23-21 in their 57 minute matchup, which would be the longest match of the day.
The women’s doubles seen the top 2 seeds in the final, with Denmark doubling it’s tally for the week as 2nd seeded Heisbol and Skelbaek defeated the top seeded English duo of Olver and Agathangelou in a three-game, 48 minute matchup with the Danes winning in the third 21-15. Chris Adcock doubled his tally of wins in Ireland as he and partner Andrew Ellis defeated their more experienced team-mate Anthony Clark and his partner Chris Landridge in the men’s doubles final, with Ellis and Adcock winning 21-13, 21-16.
Jorgensen Ends Local Hopes
Another two match day awaited the remaining players on Day 2, for some it could potentially mean four matches over two events. Chloe Magee fantastic win over the top seeded Elizabeth Cann put her through to the semi finals, only to be defeated by Karina Jorgensen in a tame two game match. The mixed doubles was a similar story for Magee, as her and partner Sam Magee defeated the English pairing of Middleton and Olver in the quarter finals but lost out to the Danish pair of Skovgaard and Andersen in a two game defeat leaving Ireland with no representatives on finals day.
The men’s singles final sees the top seeded Hans-Kristian Vittinghus take on 8th seeded Pablo Abian of Spain. Vittinghus won his all-Danish quarter final against Peter Mikkelsen and then went out to defeat the 3rd seeded Frenchman, Matthieu Lo Ping Ying to book his place in tomorrow’s final. Abian defeated the 4th Rune Ulsing in his quarter final match then defeated the 7th seeded Ville Lang in two games to reach the final. Karina Jorgensen’s opponent in the women’s singles final is the 2nd seeded Susan Egelstaff of Scotland after wins over Ragna Ingolfsdottir of Iceland in the quarter finals and then a tight two game victory over Spain’s Carolina Marin.
The men’s doubles final is an all-English affair, with two unseeded pairs making the final. Adcock and Ellis defeated two Danish pairs, including the 3rd seeded Elbjorn and Skovgaard in the semi finals whilst the other pair of Clark and Middleton defeated the German pair of Heinz and Schulz in the last 8 before beating the 2nd seeded Careme and Grosjean to reach tomorrow’s final.
The women’s doubles final sees the top two seeds meeting, with top seeds Agathangelou and Olver taking on the Danish 2nd seeds Heisbol and Skelbaek. The English pair were taken to three games in their quarter final against Fangel and Sorensen before winning their semi final in convincing fashion to reach the final. Heisbol and Skelbaek dropped their first game of the week in their semi final over Lefel and Luttmann but bounced back to take the next two games. Chris Adcock reached his second final this week with partner Imogen Bankier and the pair look for their second title in three weeks after winning the Scottish Open late last month, the pair take on the Danish pair of Skovgaard and Andersen in the final.
Cann Stands In Magee's Way
Two matches on the first day is always tough but is almost a mainstay of the EBU circuit, it is often a day that determines the winner with the players who come through the opening two rounds in the quickest possible time on court. Only three of the 8 remaining players in the men’s singles won in two straight games for both matches and just two in the women’s singles.
Irish hopes ended in the men’s singles at the second round, with 2nd seeded Scott Evans losing out to Gabriel Ulldahl in a tame two game defeat that was on court just 30 minutes. Top seeded Hans-Kristian Vittinghus has struggled through his opening two matches with both matches going to three games, he takes on Peter Mikkelsen in an all-Danish quarter final who has been impressive in his opening two rounds, winning both in two games. 7th seeded Spainard Pablo Abian is another player who impressed on the opening day, winning both his matches in two games and will take on the 4th seeded Dane, Rune Ulsing for place in the last 4. Scottish Open runner-up Ville Lang has also breezed through into the last 8 and takes on the Swede Ulldahl in his quarter final match.
7 seeds remain of the 8 in the women’s singles, with European junior champion Carolina Marin making up the quarter final lineup. Marin defeated the 7th seed Prutsch in her opening round and another victory against French qualifier Marie Maunoury sees her into the last 8 against Karin Schnaase of Germany. The top 2 seeds also battled through to the last 8, Elizabeth Cann struggled in her opening round match before finding form in her two game win over Nanna Brosolat Jensen in her second round match whilst 2nd seeded Susan Egelstaff defeated last weeks winner Anita Raj Kaur in three games in her opening round before beating Perrine Lebuhanic to set up her quarter final with Ragna Ingolfsdottir of Iceland. Chloe Magee of Ireland is also through to the last 8 after two victories and takes on the top seeded Cann in the quarter finals.
Top seeded French pair Constantin and Vincent crashed out at the second round in the men’s doubles, losing to Denmark’s Bue and Rasmussen who will play the unseeded Adcock and Ellis of England in the last 8. The 2nd seeded French pair of Careme and Grosjean did come through the opening day and face their own Danish opponents in the quarter finals in Mork and Winther. The pair to look out for in the event though is the English pair of Landridge and Clark who have breezed into the last 8. Clark is not in Hong Kong playing with usual partner Nathan Robertson and this new pairing has the potential to go all the way this week.
The women’s doubles has been marred with a mass of withdrawals but the top seeded Agathangelou and Olver are safely into the last 8 with second seeds Heisbol and Skelbaek also through. The 3rd seeded Belgian pair of Annys and Corvilain crashed out in the second round to the French pair of Lefel and Luttman. The 4th seeded St Jacques and Lavoie are also into the last 8 after a win over Latvian pair of Pope and Sefere.
Scottish Open winners Adcock and Bankier’s excellent run continued as they defeated the top seeded Gao and Ng in their second round match to progress to the last 8. There has been little problems for the other 3 seeds to date, but the two Magee’s from Ireland face a tough task in their quarterfinal taking on Olver and Middleton for a place in the last 4. Croatian 4th seeded Durkinjak and Poznanovic have also been impressed as they have reached the last 8 with dropping a game.
Koo Kien Keat Wins Two Golds
After a long road and lots of badminton the big winners at the 2010 Commonwealth Games were Malaysia and hosts India. While these two teams were the gold and silver medalists respectively in the team event, they split the individual golds 3-2. First off in the mixed doubles Malaysian super star Koo Kien Keat would win his first gold of the tournament along with partner Chin Eei Hui. The Malaysian pair defeated England’s Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork 22-20, 21-12. Next would be India’s turn to win their first badminton gold of the tournament. Jwalla Gutta and Ashwini Ponnapa took on Singapore’s Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari and won in two relatively close games 21-16, 21-19.
In spite of Rajiv Ouseph’s strong ability as a mens singles player he was far outclassed when Lee Chong Wei proved once again why he is the number one ranked player in the world. The domineering Malaysian destroyed Ouseph in two fast games 21-8, 21-10 to win his second consecutive Commonwealth Games title.
In the men’s doubles Koo Kien Keat would yet again dash Nathan Robertson’s hopes of a gold medal. Koo partnered with Tan Boon Heong to defeat Robertson and his partner Anthony Clark 21-19, 21-14.
Finally the highlight match of the day for the home crowd was their favourite player Saina Nehwal’s match against Malaysian Wong Mew Choo. Saina was close to being defeated after losing the first game 19-21, and was forced to pull out a close second game 22-20. Saina took the match in the end by winning the third game 21-13 and won her first Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Lee Steps Away From Second CWG Gold
Lee Chong Wei has successfully negotiated the early rounds and defeated the two seeds in his half of the draw in the quarters, then defeating Chetan Anand in the semi finals to set up the gold medal match against England’s Rajiv Ouseph who defeated another Indian in the 5th seeded Parupalli to set up Thursday’s final.
India’s big hope for gold comes from Saina Nehwal, as she successfully progressed into Thursday’s final after beating Scotland’s Susan Egelstaff in the semi final in two games to set up a gold medal match against Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia. The 2nd seed defeated England’s Elizabeth Cann in three games to book her place in Thursday’s final. Cann will take on Egelstaff tomorrow in a rematch of their 2006 bronze medal match for a chance of a medal in 2010.
Top seeds Koo and Tan of Malaysia are through to Thursday’s final against the 2nd seeded English pair of Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark. The top seeded Malaysians have failed to drop a game on route to the final whilst the English pair had to come through a tight three game match over Triyacha and Wong of Singapore.
India has a second chance of gold in the women’s doubles, with 2nd seeds Gutta and Machiman progressing to Thursday’s final against Singapore’s top seed Sari and Yao, who defeated the 3rd seeded English pair of Wallwork and White in two games to book their place in the gold medal match on Thursday.
Nathan Robertson’s second chance at gold is also Koo Kien Keat’s second chance also as the pair match up in the mixed doubles final also. Top seeded Robertson partners Jenny Wallwork against the unseeded Malaysian pair of Koo and Chin, who have partnered up just for the Commonwealth Games. They defeated the 2nd seeded Gutta and Valiya in the quarter finals and then 3rd seeded Triyacha and Yao of Singapore in the semi finals.
Baxter Through to Next Round
It is one of the few events that pits the worlds best against the complete unknown. This is exactly the check for Lee Chong Wei, the top seed defeated Alexander Pang of Canada before taking on Muwowo of Zambia for a place in the quarter finals. Carl Baxter also takes on an unknown Jamaican for a place in the last 8.
Local interest will see the 6th seeded Parupalli take on the Scottish #1, Kieran Merrilees in one of the more competitive matches of the day in the women’s singles.
Saina Newhal is another with a nations hopes on her back, with a likely matchup with Anna Rice in the last 8 if both make it through their matches against players from Northern Ireland and Guernsey respectively. Susan Egelstaff takes on Michelle Chan for a place against Fu Mingtian in the quarter finals.
Xing Aiying takes on Michelle Li of Canada, with a likely match with Elizabeth Cann in the last 8. India’s second hope is with the 5th seeded Mutatkar, who takes on Scottish teenager Kirsty Gilmour for a place in the last 8 with Wong Mew Choo being the likely opponent.
Koo and Tan start their campaign in the men’s doubles against the Welsh pair of Morgan and Phillips whilst 2nd seeded Robertson and Clark take on the Canadian pair of Ng and Vendervet. The women’s doubles top seeds, Sari and Yao take on Eastmond and Watson of Barbados whilst the other seed in this half of the draw, Wallwork and White take on Gao and Ko of Canada. Indian 2nd seeds Gutta and Machiman take on the Malaysian pair of Chin and Woon.
The mixed doubles has seen two rounds of play, with top seeds Robertson and Wallwork being untested so far. They take on the Singapore pair of Wijaya and Sari in a last 16 match. The main match for the locals will be the all-Indian last 16 match between Kallyad and Machiman takes on Valiya and Gutta, the 2nd seeds.
While hardly a huge surprise it was nonetheless a weight lifted off of the Malaysia team’s shoulders today when they secured yet another team event gold medal. Looking back on the history of the games we see only England and Malaysia have ever taken the team title.
Malaysia def India 3-1
The event started out with Malaysia’s doubles super star Koo Kien Keat partnering up with Chin Ee Hui in the mixed doubles against Jwala Gutta and Diju Valiya Veetil. This was an important match for Malaysia to win since their strength lies in their men’s team, and a loss in the mixed would put them in serious danger. However, in spite of going to three games the Malaysian pair managed to pull out the win 21-14, 10-21, 21-10 to secure the first point in the tie.
Perhaps the most assured win for Malaysia would come from the men’s singles with world number 1 Lee Chong Wei taking on Kashyap Parupalli. A surprising choice by the India team to field Parupalli as he is India’s third ranked singles player behind both Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat at number 32 in the world. Regardless the Indian shuttler faired well against Lee in the first game posting a 21-18 score and seemed a legitimate threat. However, in the second game he failed to maintain the same pressure and was easily disposed of 21-7 putting Malaysia up 2-0 in the tie.
The only loss of the day came at the hands of India’s superstar women’s singles player Saina Nehwal who also happens to be the tournaments top seed in the individual event. Saina faced off against Wong Mew Choo who managed to sneak out a close first game 26-24. It was a good start for the Malaysian but Saina managed to pull things back in her favour in the second 21-17 to set up a final deciding game. This also went in the Indian’s favour as she went on to win the match, and India’s first point in the tie, 24-26, 21-17, 21-14.
To seal victory Malaysia brought out more of their superstars as world number one men’s doubles pairing Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong took to the court against Thomas Sanava and Rupesh Kumar. The Indian pairing are strong players in their own right, but they were no match for Koo and Tan who won the match 21-12, 21-19 to win Malaysian second consecutive team gold in the Commonwealth Games.
In the bronze medal match England defeated Singapore 3-1 with two of their points coming from victories by Nathan Robertson in the mens doubles and mixed doubles.
England def Singapore 3-1
Stay tuned here for more reports as we start the individual events.
Kuncoro Withdraws From Worlds
The day began with the news of Sony Kuncoro’s withdrawal from the men’s singles with a back injury, Misha Zilberman who was expected to play Kuncoro tomorrow has a bye into round 2. The questions going into today were of Lin Dan and if he had the hunger for a run at the title this year.
We didn’t have to wait long for an answer as the 3rd seed won his opening round match over Iran’s Ali Shahhosseini 21-4, 21-10 in 26 minutes to book his place in Wednesday’s second round where he will play Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen after a two game victory over Hungary’s Henrik Toth. Play begun at 10am with the World #1 Lee Chong Wei in his quest to all to his first All England triumph in March, he started his campaign against Kevin Cordon and promptly progressed into the second round, winning his match 21-7, 21-11.
Jan Jorgensen looks to have put his recent dip in form behind him with a two game victory over Austria’s Michael Lahensteiner to book a second round match with Rajiv Ouseph. The Englishman took on Eric Pang in one of the best matches of the opening round today, with Ouseph coming through 23-21 in the 3rd game to book his place against the 11th seeded Jorgensen. There was also a comfortable two game victory for Taufik Hidayat over Nigeria’s Ola Fagbemi and the 5th seed takes on Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Yu Hsin in Round 2 on Wednesday.
10th seeded Bao Chunlai is safely through into Round 2 after a 21-11, 21-17 win over Hong Kong’s Yan Kit Chan and will play Canada’s David Snider on Wednesday after his two game win over Scotland’s Alistair Casey. The 7th seeded Tien Minh Nguyen and 13th seeded Park Sung Hwan are also through to Wednesday’s second round after both won in two games.
In the Women’s singles, the top 8 seeds received byes so it was a day for the lower seeded players to impress. Yip Pui Yin was the first of the seeds to progress into Round 2, the 12th seed defeating France’s Perrine Lebuhanic in two games. However for the 11th seeded Yao Jie, the job was a lot harder as she was taken to a third game by Singapore’s Xing Aiying before coming through after a 50 minute encounter.
The 13th seed Ella Diehl defeated Jeanine Cicognini in two games, but the 15th seeded Petya Nedelcheva needed three games to defeat Judith Meulendijks in 55 minutes. There were also wins for the 10th seeded Eriko Hirose and for 14th seeded Bae Sueng Hee of Korea. Ai Goto is also one to watch this week, the Japanese woman is in an excellent run of form and defeated Alesia Zaitsava 21-9, 21-9 to prove her own credentials.
The biggest shock of the day came late on day 1 as Robertson and Clark took out the 10th seeded Bach and Gunawan in the men’s doubles, winning 21-9, 22-20. The 16th seeded Choong and Lee are also out, losing in three games to the German pairing of Hopp and Schottler. This means that the higher seedings in the section will not have to play a seed until the quarter final, which in these sections is Kido and Setiawan (Hopp/Schottler) and Cai/Fu (Robertson/Clark).
There were a few withdrawals in the event also, allowing the 9th seeded Chandra and Setiawan a bye into Round 2 as well as the 14th seeded Chai and Zhang. There were some seeds in action who progressed into the second round, 13th seeds Ko and Yoo are safely into the next round as well as the 11th seeded Hashimoto and Hirata of Japan.
The longest match of the day came in the women’s doubles as the unseeded Mason and Bankier of Scotland put out the 13th seeded pair Amitapai and Munkit of Thailand in three games. The 65-minute encounter was the only match to surpass the one-hour mark today. They take on the Dutch pairing of Jonathans and Van Dooremalen after they received a first round bye after Frier Kristiansen and Roepke’s withdrawal. There were impressive wins for the 12th seeded Sorokina and Vislova over Kobtseva and Prus of Ukraine, winning 21-16, 21-5.
The 4th seeded Cheng and Zhao have also received a second round bye after the withdrawal of Chang and Chou of Chinese Taipei today. The 16th seeded Gutta and Ponnappa of India received a first round bye after Barning and Muskens of Holland also pulled out today. The most impressive performance of the day came from the English pairing of White and Wallwork as they progressed into Round 2 with a stunning 21-3, 21-14 victory today.
The 11th seeded Chen and Chou ensured that Johannes Schottler would not put out a second seed on the day, defeating him and his partner Sandra Marinello 21-13, 21-14 to progress into Round 2. Gabrielle White was also looking to create more news as her and partner Chris Adcock took the 9th seeded Indian’s to a deciding game, only to lose out to V and Gutta 21-8 in the deciding game.
Day 2 will see the end of the opening round matches for the men’s singles and mixed doubles before the start of the top names in women’s singles take centre stage night 2 of the World Championships.
Last weeks’ runner up Boonsak Ponsana found out the hard way that past success is no guarantee of victory today as he lost out to Korea’s Shon Wan Ho in three games. The 4th seeded from Thailand was not the only seeded player to crash out in round 1 as 5th seeded Jan O Jorgensen retired from his match against Sho Sasaki in the second game after losing the tight first game.
Lee Chong Wei had a routine two game victory in his opening round game and will play Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the second round. Kenichi Tago is also through to the last 32 in the top half of the draw. Last weeks winner and 7th seeded this week Sony Kuncoro progressed in two games over Brice Leverdez, who took Lee Chong Wei to three games last week in Singapore.
Another week and another shock loss for Zhou Mi in a year to forget for the 3rd seed. Sayaka Sato of Japan defeated the 3rd seed in two games to set up a second round match against Kim Hi Moon of Korea. Saina Nehwal came through a tight three game match against another Korean player, Sung Ji Hyun to set up a second round match with Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria. With the elimination of Zhou Mi, only Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong remains from the seeded players in the bottom half of the draw.
It was a great day for Koo and Tan of Malaysia as they progressed to the quarter finals thanks to a two game victory in the opening round and their second round opponents pulling out of the match scheduled for tomorrow. Only one seed fell at the opening stage in the men’s doubles, with Clark and Robertson defeating the 3rd seeded Chen and Lin from Chinese Taipei in two games to set up a second round match with Kawamae and Sato of Japan.
The mixed doubles draw is as planned, with all 8 seeds safely through with only the 6th seeded Wallwork and Robertson being taken to a 3rd game today. The unseeded partnership of Setiwan and Russkikh are also through to round 2 and will be a pair to watch throughout this week.
Wednesday’s Complete Indonesia Super Series Results
Palyama Upsets Jorgensen
A rain-shortened day in Singapore has delayed some players opening round games until Thursday such as Peter Gade but even down one court for most of the day the organisers almost completed a full days play, with several seeds crashing out throughout the day.
The unknown Chinese players in Singapore are making a name for themselves as Li Xuerui defeated 8th seeded Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21-4, 21-14 in just 22 minutes to explode onto the Super Series stage within the opening hour of play. 3rd seed Zhou Mi crashed out in the opening round as her terrible run of form in the 2010 Super Series continues. Saina Nehwal had no trouble in her opening round match, defeating Wong Mew Choo 21-8, 21-5 to book a 2nd round match against the European Circuit Finals champion, Ella Diehl. 4th seeded Lu Lan, who is not taking part in the World Championships in Paris after dropping out of China’s top 4 (currently China’s #6) but is still ranked inside the top 10 in the world has to wait until tomorrow to start her campaign against Ai Goto of Japan.
The biggest casualty in the men’s draw is Jan O Jorgensen, seeded 5 for the event as Dicky Palyama defeated him in three tight games. Peter Gade and Tien Minh Nguyen start their campaigns off tomorrow after the rain delay forced their matches into tomorrow’s order of play. Lee Chong Wei made hard work of his opening match against Brice Leverdez after losing the second game before recovering to take the match in three games. Joachim Persson scored an excellent victory over Marc Zwiebler of Germany in three games to set up a 2nd round match against Sony Kuncoro.
The top two seeds are into Round 2 of the Mixed Doubles, top seeded Widianto and Natsir had to come back from a game down to set up a all-Indonesian 2nd round match with Ahmad and Polii. World Champions Laybourn and Rytter Juhl had no problems in progressing to round 2, where they will face the English pair of Heather Olver and Anthony Clark. There was mixed fortunes for the English contingent in Singapore as 8th seeded Robertson and Wallwork were defeated in three games by local pair Triyachart and Yao in Round 1.
Wednesday’s Full Singapore Super Series 2010 Results
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