The main rounds of the 2013 edition of the Polish International kicked off in Lubin today and no one would have expected to see much European success given the strength of the travelling Chinese Taipei team and their dominance of the singles events.

It is in these type of situations that stars shine through and today, in the unlikely setting of a Lubin school gymnasium, the name of Irina Amalie Andersen (pictured) burst onto the scene and announced her arrival to the senior badminton world.

The tall Dane, not yet 15 years of age, blasted through qualification leaving everyone in her wake and in round one defeated Irelands Alannah Stephenson with ease to book a second round meeting with top seed HSU Ya Ching.

Andersen took the opening game to the amazement of her Asian opponent and at one set a piece a real upset was on the cards. However HSU had to call on all her experience to come through 21-18 in the deciding game and it was the Dane that came away with all the plaudits in what was her very first senior international tournament one month before her 15th birthday.

“I think I just didn’t control the net good enough towards the end and made a few mistakes which cost me the game”

When asked about her first senior tournament experience Andersen was happy with her two day’s work and looked forward to the immediate future

“I am happy here with my performance which was all about getting some senior exposure. I will play some more tournaments before Christmas including Norway, Wales and Ireland and it is my goal to be the best in Denmark and I will keep working towards that.” Said the smiling 14 year 11 month old Andersen.

Andersen has already moved to train in Denmark’s national centre where she spends two days a week with the elite group of young women’s singles players and after her performance this week in Lubin the future certainly looks bright for Danish ladies singles.

Polish mixed overcomes stiff Asian test

The new combination of Lukasz Moren and Agnieszka Wojtkowska had an early start this morning in a match that on paper would define their tournament. Against them the Chinese Taipei pair of Chen & Cheng posed a real threat to their assault on the top step of the podium. The Polish duo, spurred on by their local support played a tactically excellent match and came through in two games. Moren & Wojtkowska followed up their first round victory with a win over fellow Poles Bochat & Witek to set up a quarter final match against Danish second seeds Mattisson & Iversen.

Polish veterans still full of love for the game

Elsewhere top seeded men’s doubles duo of Adam Cwalina and Przemyslaw Wacha had little trouble in overcoming Lithuanian pair Plavin and Bartusis. The Poles, benefiting from a bye in the first round, have had little exposure to the hall over two days and as a result looked fresh in their two game victory.

“For us the best practise is to play tournaments and we love the game and we are enjoying out time on court. We will play mostly all tournaments before Christmas and of course it is very important for us to win here in Poland. We still have to be careful as there are many good pairs here who may surprise us” said Adam Cwalina to Badminton Europe after their victory.

For all results from Polish International click HERE

To revisit all the action from today’s play on demand and to subscribe to Badminton Europe’s YouTube channel click HERE

To view the facebook photo gallery from Lubin click HERE

Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Lubin)