As we see some of the world’s top players waving goodbye to the World Championships before the deciding stages, there are European players that soldier on despite the end-of-year exhaustion.
Europe’s number four Ben Lane/ Sean Vendy faced Fabien Delrue/ William Villeger yesterday on court in what was a great performance from the French pair. Despite the Englishmen trying to stop them by pushing it to three games, it was a win for Delrue/ Villeger.
Another one of Europe’s top 10 duos, Alexander Dunn/ Adam Hall, fell in an encounter with Ong Yew Sin/ Teo Ee Yi. However, Europe still has some strong contenders fighting in the men’s doubles category and some pairs showed this by winning on what is the fourth day of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021.
The last home representatives standing
Spain still had some contenders playing today, on day four of the world event. Luís Enrique Peñalver could not get past seeded Rasmus Gemke, Denmark, losing in straight games but they also had Joan Monroy/ Carlos Piris. After Christo Popov/ Toma Junior Popov’s walkover, the Spanish pair advanced onto the next stage.
The home crowd had home heroes to cheer for today. Monroy/ Piris were facing Mark Lamsfuss/ Marvin Seidel in what was the opening match for the German players. The young Spanish pair knew they were facing tough competition but still gave their best in a fearless performance.
- I think we did not play our best and the two guys also gave a good performance. We got some shots back that we did not expect to get back. I think we can do better and that is what we will do in the tournament, Seidel said.
Cheering from the stands
The Spanish audience cheered loudly on the stands for every point that their pair got. Despite most of the encouragement being directed towards the Spaniards, Lamsfuss/ Seidel felt the roar as a great addition to the overall atmosphere.
- It is actually amazing to have some fans back and it is a lot of fun to play. The guys were shouting from both sides, they were really loud, and I love it, Lamsfuss explained.
With many of the strong contenders already going home, this translates as an advantage in the shape of better chances to getting closer to the world champion title for those who are still standing in the competition.
- It is a pity that they will not be competing here, but it is a good chance for us and we will just go for it, Lamsfuss stated.
The European Champions keep pushing
Vladimir Ivanov/ Ivan Sozonov will not say goodbye to this long year without a fight on the world’s stage. The National Badminton Federation of Russia’s representatives played their first match today in Huelva against M.R. Arjun/ Dhruv Kapila, India.
The win in straight sets had the Indian pair putting more pressure in the second game, but the experienced Russian duo stopped them to get a win in 40 minutes.
- It was a very important game today. There were good shuttles for us, very slow. We did not give any chances to the opponents. We met M.R. Arjun/ Kapila in the Swiss Open and it was the same, a win in straight games. We just kept focus in every point,
When asked about many of the top players losing and going home, the Ivanov/ Sozonov point at the difficulties brought by the pandemic for all players but see this as a chance to keep on pushing even harder.
- This gives us a better chance, Ivanov stated.
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