4 Nations Afternoon and evening Day 2
In the beginning of the second half of the day Malaysia’s Cheah Liek Hu took Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho to sudden death in their first round. A competitive round which saw the lead change at multiple stages however Cheah managed to win the round 22-20. The start of round two saw the same competitiveness, however Nugroho couldn’t hold on to the top seeded player in SU 5, and Cheah won 21-7, progressing through to the knockouts. It was a comfortable first round for Hong Kong’s Chan Ho Yuen, who led from the first point. The match appeared to get close during their second round however a composed Chan stayed on his game and comfortably won both of his rounds 21, 21 to 9, 13 against Takumi Matsumoto of Japan.
The first round between Fang Jen-Yu from Chinese Taipei and Poland’s Bartlomiej Mroz was quite intense in the beginning. Fang found his feet after winning his 11 point and kept the lead all the way to the end of the round, beating Mroz 21-14. Fang then gained a quick lead in the second round going into point 4 however Mroz brought it back to 4-4 after being 3-1 down. It was a very close match but Fang found himself victorious winning the second round 21-18.
Japan’s top seeded Sarina Satomi also had a dominant win against Brazil’s Ana Gomes. Satomi looked nothing but comfortable in her chair as she beat Gomes 21-6 and then 21-5, sending her confidently through to the knockouts.
In SL 4, second seeded Haruka Fujino from Japan appeared to be struggling in her match against Indonesia’s Leani Ratri Oktila. Oktila won the first round 21-14 as Fujino could only get within two points of leading past point 4. Round two seemed to be closer however it was not to be for her as Oktila won 21-13.
Jeong Jaegun of Korea and Germany’s second seeded Thomas Wandschneider had a close first round towards the start of the match however Jeong started to break away around the 10 point mark. Wandschneider stayed close on his tail but ultimately Jeong won the first round 21-15. The start of the second round played out similarly to how it had in round one. The German gave more of a challenge in the second round however Jeong emerged victorious with 21-17. It was an impressive showing from England’s Rachel Choong. In her match against Wu Yu-Yen of Chinese Taipei she won both rounds comfortably.
Round one finished quickly as Choong won 21-8 however Wu gave it her all in the second round. It was close between the two at the beginning as Wu led the scores for the first few rallies before Choong stepped up again and won the match 21-13.
There was a third round clash between Charles Noakes and Krysten Coombs. who won his first round comfortably, however it was tight up to ten points before Coombs started to pull away, winning the round 21-15. Round two couldn’t have been more of the opposite as Noakes did the exact same thing that Coombs had done the round before. It went down to the third and final round where Coombs found himself the winner. Both players took it down to the wire, taking the
lead from each other at every opportunity but Coombs proved that he was worthy of winning the match 21-17.
In the Men’s doubles, Choi Jungman and Kim Jung Jun of Korea dominated the Italian-Swiss duo of Yuri Ferrigno and Luca Olgiati 21, 21 to 17, 8, while the German duo of Rick Cornell Hellmann and Thomas Wandschneider beat France’s Thomas Jakobs and David Toupe 21, 21 to 11, 18.
In the Women’s doubles, Switzerland’s Cynthia Mathez and Ilaria Renggli comfortably won against Ana Gomes and Daniele Torres Souza of Brazil 21, 21 to 5, 2.
England’s Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong emerged victorious in the Mixed doubles against Peru’s Nilton Quipse Ignacio and Giuliana Poveda Flores, winning 22, 21 against their 20, 9. After a tough first round for both teams England found what they needed to have a comfortable second round. Much more to come tomorrow.
By Lois Smillie