Underway at the 4 Nations – First morning round up
It’s been a busy morning at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow as the 4 Nations Para Badminton Championships have gotten underway.
In WH 2 Group A, It was a dominant showing from Yu Sooyoung of Korea in the first game, beating Switzerland’s Luca Olgiati 21, 21 to 2, 8. His teammate Kim Jung Jin in Group B on WH 2 had a difficult time against Thomas Jakobs of France in his first round, taking it all the way to 21-19 in favour of Kim. However Kim produced a better second round of 21-12 to win his match.
In the Men’s Standing Singles it’s been a close competition on Court Four. India’s Sukant Kadam faced Rogerio Junior Xavier De Oliveira in the first match to go to Round Three. After losing his first round 18-21, Kadam brought it back to 21, 21 against 11, 10. Elsewhere in SL 4, Hikmat Ramdani of Indonesia took Rickard Nilsson to sudden death in the second round with a score of 21, 23 to 16, 21, meanwhile Mohd Amin Burhanuddin beat Diogo Daniel 21, 21 to 10, 15.
It wasn’t so great for local Scotsman Gregor Craig Anderson, who found himself struggling against Chile’s Jaime Aranguiz. Aranguiz dominated their WH 2 match, winning 21, 21 to 4, 2. In his post-match interview, he spoke on Aranguiz, saying that “he’s a world-class player, way better than I was.” Reflecting on his own performance, he said “I was struggling with movement, I felt quick but getting out of the chair I just couldn’t get forward and back. Too many shots into the net.”
Looking ahead to his next match, Anderson said that “you learn more from a loss than a win, in this tournament it’s better for me to lose all my games and learn how to play.” He also explained that “with so many games, as you get further through the day it becomes harder to work on it as you get more tired and fatigue kicks in.”
So far, an exciting opening day and lots more to come including Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles later on in the afternoon.
By Lois Smillie