Circuit

Olvers double shot at gold
Date: 9/29/2012 1:16 PM
Published by : Manuel Røsler
All things considered it has been a tough six months for Heather Olver, the mixed and doubles specialist from England. A mixed bag of mixed partners followed by the dissolution of her long term partnership with Mariana Agathangelou would have been enough to break the moral of most players. Today the English woman proved that perseverance pays off with pair of wins at semi final stage to give herself a shot at a double in doubles in Sunday’s final of the Czech International.

Olver along with new mixed partner Chris Langridge got some luck very early in the tournament with a promotion to the main draw at the very last minute and the English pair have capitalized on that stroke of luck as they cruised through to the final with a demolition of Indonesian pair Okvana and Megawati in the semi final.

“It was certainly nice to get the good news on Thursday that we had been promoted to the main draw. I’m getting old now so an extra two matches would have been hard on the legs” said Langridge jokingly to Badminton Europe.

The mixed doubles final will be a repeat of the final only two weeks ago in Belgium where Olver and Langridge will take to the court as under dogs against Marcus Ellis and Gabby White. Olver will not let that faze her and can be confident in the knowledge that her partnership with Langridge is maturing at a serious rate of knots.

“I think we can go into the final with a certain amount of confidence as we have started to settle now as a pair and playing as we should be. I am sure it will be close tomorrow against Gabby and Marcus but we are slightly confident” commented Olver.

Olver followed up her mixed win with another dominant display in the women’s doubles alongside Kate Robertshaw. Again an economical two set win over Corvilain and Annys will keep some energy in reserve for the English girl come tomorrow’s final.

In the men’s singles there was a happy return to semi finals stages of a tournament for Joachim Persson. The by now much travelled Dane blew away the threat of Flemming Quach in two games to advance to his first International final in many years.

Persson will play Danish youngster Kim Bruun who remarkably came through qualification here in Brno to make it to the final. Bruun ended the good run of Dicky Palyama in the semi final and he will need to call on all his youthful exuberance tomorrow after playing 7 matches in 3 days.

Kirsty Gilmour ended the run of local favourite Kristina Gavnholt in a dramatic match in front of the Badminton Europe streaming cameras. Gavnholt won the opening game but the signs were there that Gilmour was a real threat after a spirited comeback at the end of that opening set.

Gilmour came out and won the second 21-14 and displayed maturity beyond her years to take the match 21-19 in the third to advance to her second final in a month after winning the Polish Open at the tail end of August. “It was a huge relief to win this match with not only Kristina to beat but also the home crowd. I have a lot of confidence going into tomorrow’s final and hopefully I can bring this game I played today into that final” said Gilmour after her victory.

The women’s singles final will be a battle of the form players on the Badminton Europe circuit after Sashina Vignes Waran defeated Michelle Chan Ky to make it to her second consecutive final. The French girl will be looking to go back to back in Brno after her victory in Belgium and will go into tomorrow’s final as slight favourite.

Not to be outdone by Olver, Kirsty Gilmour will also feature in a pair of finals tomorrow after cruising through in the women’s doubles semi final alongside fellow Scot Jillie Cooper.

For all results from Brno click HERE
To revisit today’s matches on Badminton Europe TV click HERE
For live Badminton Europe Facebook photo gallery click HERE

Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Brno)
©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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