General

A fine premiere in Sweden
Date: 3/12/2012 11:27 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler

The U22 International Top Ranking competition was played in Täby in northern Stockholm. The competition was a new investment in Europe with a high amount of price money for the winners. 16 men’s singles players and 16 women’s singles players competed for 80.000 SEK (about 8.600 Euros).

The winner in the men’s singles as well as in the women’s singles events was awarded 20.000 SEK. Players from 8 countries participated in the first competition of its kind in a crowded Täby RacketCenter where the audience could watch two days of fantastic badminton.

In the first men’s singles semifinals, the Swedish number one U22 player Mattias Borg was up against the Indian player Kidambi Nandagopal, currently playing for Täby. Borg was considered the slight favorite to win but Nandagopal played with high tempo and intensity, thereby forcing Borg to play defensively. The home crowd enjoyed watching the entertainer Nandagopal who finally won the match by 21-12, 18-21, 21-14.  In the second men’s singles semifinal, Liao Jun Wei from China beat Rasmus Fladberg of Denmark in two games.

In the final match between Nandagopal and Liao, the Chinese player seemed far superior at first, making the first set completely uninteresting.  However the match changed near the end of the second set when Liao started to get tired. Nandagopal was lifted by the home crowd cheering for him and won a dramatic second set. In the third set, Nandagopal played his best game ever before winning at last, making this his greatest victory of his career. He was awarded 20.000 SEK for winning the competition.

In the first women’s singles seminal, the home player Karolina Kotte played Liu Ying Mei from China. Kotte, who in the quarterfinal fought down the second seeded player Getter Saar from Estonia, continued to play great badminton in the first set, pushing Liu into making mistakes. However Liu took control of the match and won in two sets.

Jenny Wan from Sweden amazed everyone in the second semifinal by winning the first set, 21-12, against the Danish hope for the future Line Kjærsfeldt. But later on Wan made too many unforced errors which made it possible for Kjaersfelt to take over and win the two remaining sets.

In the final match between Kjærsfeldt and Liu, the Dane got off to a good start but the Chinese was proved to be the better player. Liu won a close first game and then completely controlled the second set winning by 21-18, 21-7.

A new Top Ranking competition is being planned for autumn in 2013. The competition will once again be played in Täby. After that there will be a larger competition next fall in Gothenburg. Competitions of this sort gives the audience a chance to watch a lot of god badminton for two days and the players were all satisfied and happy about this competition.

Article and photo by Kent Kotte, Director of Täby Badminton

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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