Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt walked on court today in Birmingham to play her first round match against Busanan Ongbamrungphan from Thailand.
Blichfeldt had a very bad start on the first game, where she was down 2-10 and never closed the big gap that Ongbamrungphan had made. Ongbamrungphan won the first game 21-15. In the second game Blichfeldt managed to find better solutions and with fewer mistakes she took second game 21-14 and the winner was to be found in the last game.
- I think I found a good rhythm and did not want to push it too much. My mistake rate went a little bit down, but I am not satisfied with the way I lost the first game, Blichfeldt said.
The last game was a lot close in the first half than the two other games was, but in the end, Blichfeldt made too many mistakes and Ongbamrungphan could walk from court as winner.
- It went quite fast and I did not recognize that I made so easy mistakes. That is just too bad, and I think it has something to do with that I have not been on court for a very long time, but I am optimistic and look forward to playing again next week, she said.
The way to Tokyo
Blichfeldt has been struggling a lot with an injury for a while which has kept her from playing tournaments for a long time. At the European Women’s Team Championships, she had to sit on the bench in the semifinal and final as her feet started to hurt again.
- I do not think my qualification has been going that well, I have only played nine tournaments because I have been injured. So, I have not been thinking so much about the Olympics because I have been able to play due to my feet. Right now, I am just thinking about getting ready for the next tournament and I take one day at a time and hopefully the tournaments I play will be enough for me to go to Tokyo this summer, Blichfeldt said.
The next tournament for Blichfeldt will be the Super 300 tournament, Swiss Open next week.