4 Nations Friday Knockouts round up
It’s been a busy day in Glasgow as the quarter finals begin. The morning started off with the women’s singles in WH 2 quarter finals. Australia’s Mischa Ginns took on Yang I-Chen of Chinese Taipei which ended 21, 21 to 12, 16 in favour of Yang. The other match taking place at this time was Ana Gomes of Brazil against Switzerland’s Cynthia Mathez. Mathez won comfortably, winning 21, 21 to Gomes’ 9, 5.
The first of the standing matches were final group stages in WS SL 4 and WS SU 5. Number one seeded Helle Sofie Sagoy of Norway in SL 4 confirmed her progression to the quarter finals with a 21, 21 to 12, 12 win over France’s Faustine Noel. Meanwhile India’s second seeded Thulasimathi Murugesan sent herself through to the quarter finals of SU 5 with a 21, 21 to , 9 win over Japanese athlete Mamiko Toyoda.
In the men’s singles, Frenchman Lucas Mazur again dominated the court, this time against Malaysia’s Mohd Amin Burhanuddin. Mazur proved why he is number one, winning his first round 21-9 and then his second 21-16.
Jung Gyeoul of Korea took her opponent in the WH 2 quarter finals to a third round battle where she ultimately triumphed over Switzerland’s Ilaria Renggli 21. 22, 22 to 14, 24, 14. She did this while Hu Guang-Chiou of Chinese Taipei caused a third round battle between her and Austrian Henriett Koosz. After winning the first round 21-11, Koosz couldn’t hold on as Hu won the following rounds 21, 21 to 11, 12.
A few national clashes took place, with Hikmat Ramdani and Fredy Setiawan of Indonesia going against each other in the SL 4 quarter finals. Setiawan saw himself with the victory after beating his teammate 21, 21 to 15, 10. While over on the wheelchair courts Japan’s Hiroshi Murayama and Osamu Nagashima had a three round match against each other. Nagashima managed to win in a close third round battle, winning 22-20.
The WS SH 6 quarter finals saw a retirement from Egyptian Yasmina Eissa, who had to pull out from her match against England’s Rachel Choong due to an existing injury she picked up from the World Championships.
The afternoon saw two more national clashes in the SH 6 category, as Jack Shephard and Krysten Coombs of England faced each other in an intense match. Coombs would ultimately get the better of Shephard winning the third round 22-20. At the same time India’s Sivarajan Solaimalai faced second seeded Krishna Nagar. After losing the first round 21-17, Nagar brought it back and won both the second and third rounds 21-11.
In the men’s doubles, number one duo Choi Jungman and Kim Jung Jun of Korea knocked out Scotland’s Gregor Craig Anderson and Canada’s Mikhail Bilenki, winning both of their rounds 21-4. Meanwhile England number one Daniel Bethell saw himself through to the semi finals of SL 3, winning against Umesh Vikram Kumar 21, 21 to 9, 11 while Scotland’s Colin Leslie couldn’t quite get through to the semi finals being defeated by India’s Nehal Gupta 21-10 in both rounds.
The end of the day saw the final doubles matches for the day, including Scotland’s Andrew Davies who was knocked out along with his partner Daria Bujnicka of Poland who were beaten by the Peruvian duo of Nilton Quispe Ignacio and Giuliana Poveda Flores 21, 21 to 5, 8.
The 4 Nations Para Badminton Championships continue tomorrow with more quarter and semi final action.
By Lois Smillie