2022 Welsh Open Preview
By RJ Mitchell
The five strong Scottish challenge in the men’s singles will face the daunting prospect of a high quality 64-draw in the BWF International Challenge Tournament tomorrow.
Scottish No.1 Callum Smith will open his 2022 Welsh Open campaign against Denmark’s Marcus Viscovitch at the Sport Wales National Centre, while Scottish No.2 James Robertson will face No.2 seeded Frenchman Enogat Roy in the toughest draw for any of the Scots.
Danny Robson faces sixth seeded Swede Jacob Nilsson while Shaun Ally Amir is up against France’s No.16 seed Leo Van Gysel and Sen Thomas has drawn England’s Ben Muir.
In the men’s doubles Michael McGuire and Ciar Pringle will await the winner of an Anglo French first round clash between Frenchmen William Villeger and Julien Miao and England’s Ryan Kwek and Ewen Stephen on Wednesday.
Callum Crangle and Anthony McGuire are guaranteed English opposition when they get their campaign underway late tomorrow afternoon.
In the women’s doubles, Scottish No.3 Sarah Sidebottom and No.5 ranked Rachel Andrew meet Sweden’s Malena Norrman and Slovenian Lia Salehar while Jodie Harris and Brooke Stalker are up against England’s Holly Williams and Tetyana Potapenko of Ukraine.
In the mixed doubles, Michael McGuire and Brooke Stalker have already qualified after receiving a bye against top-seeded English pairing Alex Green and Estelle Van Leeuwen and waiting for them will Rachel Andrew and Adam Pringle in what is sure to be a feisty all-Scottish contest for a place in the second round of the main draw.
Also in the main draw, Sarah Sidebottom and Jack MacGregor meet England’s Lizzie Tolman and India’s Utkarsh Arora.
In the second round of qualifying Jodie Harris and Callum Crangle face Ghanaian fourth seeds Kelvin Evans Alphouse and Prospera Nantuo.
We would like to wish all of our players the very best of luck. Enjoy the tournament!