Today, Tuesday, marks the start of one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year — the All England 2025, held at the amazing Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
This year’s lineup is packed with stars, although we are still missing the reigning women’s singles champion, Carolina Marin. Despite her absence, European badminton is well represented with top talents like the Danish world number ones Anders Skaarup/Kim Astrup, two-time champion Viktor Axelsen, the in-form French stars Alex Lanier, Toma Junior Popov, and Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue. Also competing are last week’s winners in France, Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund, and the German Open champions from two weeks ago, Robin Tabeling/Alexandra Bøje. Home favorites Ben Lane/Sean Vendy, along with many other European players, will be battling for the oldest trophy in badminton history.
Many European players have already taken to the court today, and here are the results:
Toma Junior Popov - H.S. Prannoy 21-19, 21-16
Alexander Dunn/Julie Macpherson - Ty Alexanders Lindeman/Josephine Wu 21-9, 22-20
Christo Popov - Chou Tien Chen 10-21, 12-21
Rasmus Espersen/Amalie Kudsk - Ming Che Lu/Hung En-Tzu 21-13, 20-22, 21-18
Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue - Zhu Yi Jun/Zhang Chi 22-20, 21-15
Julie Dawall Jakobsen - Tomoka Miyazaki 6-21, 17-21
Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard - Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 21-16, 16-21, 21-18
Polina Buhrova/Yevheniia Kantemyr - Li Yi Jing/Lou Xu Min 16-21, 15-21
Ben Lane/Sean Vendy - Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-19
Amalie Kudsk/Signe Schulz - Francesca Corbett/Jennie Gai 15-21, 21-23
Kirsty Gilmour - Sung Shou Yun 21-18, 21-16
Christo Popov/Toma Junior Popov - Liu Kuang Heng/Yang Po Han 17-21, 18-21
Anders Skaarup/Kim Astrup - Muhammad Fikri/Daniel Marthin 20-22 18-21
The first day has already delivered some big results. Toma Junior Popov continues his impressive form, and Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard secured a huge win against the reigning silver medalists in an intense and well-played match. However, we also had to say goodbye to the tournament’s top-seeded men’s doubles pair, Anders Skaarup/Kim Astrup. After a injury break for Skaarup, their comeback unfortunately didn’t go as the Danes had hoped.
Tomorrow, the second half of the first round will be played, with even more European players in action. Notably, Greg and Jenny Mairs will play what might be their last international match together. On top of that, stars like Viktor Axelsen, Mia Blichfeldt, and Alex Lanier are set to hit the courts.