The eagerly anticipated World Championships have finally started in Nanjing, China. And the early rounds are always fun. Interesting match-ups, great diversity of nations and a few surprises.
On day one, a theme that had to be noted was the solid performance by French Doubles pairings. One such pair was Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in the Mixed Doubles. Ranked 65 in the world, they had a tricky first round match-up against Indonesians Yantoni Edy Saputra and Marsheilla Gischa Islami, who are ranked 28 places higher at 37. A pair who would have been quietly confident against the French opponents after promising quarter-final results in the Australian Open and Indonesia Masters leading up to this.
But it was the Dutch International champions who dispatched the favoured Indonesians in 2 quick games, 21-13, 21-14. The French pair now face the number 3 seeds from Hong Kong, Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet.
Inspired French Doubles
It seems that this great result filtered through the French teams, as the good performances kept coming for ‘Les Bleus’. Emilie Lefel and Anne Tran easily dispatched of Peruvian Women’s Doubles pair Macias and Nishimura, 21-9, 21-9.
Back in the Mixed Doubles, Bastian Kersaudy and Lea Palermo pushed the China Master finalists, Ronald Ronald and Annisa Saufika all the way, losing a tight match 21-19, 11-21, 21-16.
In a similarly tight match against hardy opponents, Ronan Labar and Audrey Fontaine lost 17-21, 21-18, 21-17, after almost an hour on court.
Lastly, Delphine Delrue did not have the same fortune in Women’s Doubles with her partner Lea Palermo, losing a close to call match 21-17, 22-20 against Malaysian pair Woon Khe Wei and Vivian Hoo.
Find all the matches of the Total BWF World Championships
here.
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