Carder loses out but Nguyen through to men’s singles second round
There was an action-packed evening session at the opening day of the Scottish Open Badminton Championships as the main draw of the men’s singles got underway at Emirates Arena.
Scotland’s sole representative Matthew Carder was unable to progress into the second round as the 25-year-old lost out to Austria’s Luka Wraber 21-9 21-9.
But there was better fortune for Irish badminton ace Nhat Nguyen, originally from Vietnam, who was in impressive form as he saw off Sweden’s Jacob Nilsson 21-15 21-14.
“I felt it was a good performance from me, I was well controlled and calculated,” said the 18-year-old. “I’m feeling I can do well in this tournament as I’m in decent shape.
“Mentally I’m in a good place and my form is good. I think I play the French number one next so it won’t be easy, but I’ll give it my all and see what happens.”
In one of the matches of the day, French star Toma Junior Popov also sealed his place in the second round with a three-game victory over Danish rival Søren Toft.
Popov lost the opening game 21-19 before fighting back to claim the second and third games 21-19 21-16 and the 20-year-old believes he can potentially go all the way this year.
“It was really tough, the first match always is because you don’t have all the feeling, the touch and my opponent played really, really good match,” he said.
“The luck was a bit with him in the first set and then I took the second game, but it was close with only one point in it most of the way, and then I won in the end.
“I felt confident as on paper I was the favourite. There was a bit of stress, which is normal, but I got better as it went on and it was really good to win.
“I’m taking it game by game but the goal is to win this tournament. This is my second time playing here and I lost in the second round last year, but I’ve gone up a level now.”
England’s David Jones won his third match on day one to reach the second round, having also played twice in qualifying to reach the main draw.
Jones, who is returning from a knee injury, defeated Abhinav Manota 21-19 21-15 to cap off an excellent day for the 20-year-old on his return to the Emirates Arena.
“It was quite a long day, three matches, two in qualifying and one in the first round but I’m happy to get through all three as they were tough, quite physical,” he said.
“I feel like I got better as the day went on. The first round I had quite a tricky opponent and it’s quite a big arena to play in but I feel I have adjusted as the day’s gone on.
“I’m really happy with the performance I’ve put in. This is my first tournament back in a while so I’m just happy to get back on court and I wanted to get through qualifying.
“I’m just taking each game as I can and hopefully see how far I can go, I haven’t really got a set milestone where I want to get to but I’m feeling good.”
Elsewhere, Germany’s Max Weisskirchen produced a stunning comeback to defeat Dane Rasmus Messerschmidt 17-21 21-16 21-15, while compatriot Kai Schaefer beat Ireland’s Joshua Magee.
England’s Ethan Rose concluded the play on the opening day against Croatia’s Zvonimir Durkinjak, but was narrowly edged out 21-12 16-21 22-20 in 50 minutes.
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The Scottish Open Badminton Championships are being staged at the Emirates Arena by Badminton Scotland with support from Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
For more information contact Peter Dean on 0141 445 1218 or email peter@badmintonscotland.org.uk