As the Syed Modi International in India approaches the midway stage of the tournament, there is now not much of a European representation left.
Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen are into the next round after beating their Indian opponents, Utkarsh Arora/Swarnaraj Bora, in straight games to advance to the quarterfinals.
Tough day for Europe
Meanwhile, other European players who had made it to the second round and have been knocked out are Milan Ludik from the Czech Republic, who was beaten by the number eight seed for the tournament in straight games.
Also bowing out was the two Russian Mixed Doubles pairs, the number two seeds Evenji Dremin/Evengia Dimova and Rodion Alimov/Alina Davletova, who were beaten by the number seven seeds.
- I struggled a lot in my match today and I could not play my attacking style, which I am used to. Still, I fought my best and tried to get as much experience as possible, Milan Ludik told Badminton Europe.
- It was great to play here in Lucknow and it was even better to be part of the group from COE, he added.
Other representation
Other European players that are left in the quarterfinals tomorrow are Russian Doubles pairs Ekaterina Bolotva/Alina Davletova and Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov.
The two pairs play against Indian and Indonesian opponents in the last eight of the tournament.
The Danes stick together
Yesterday, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen retired after just three minutes of play in the Syed Modi International.
Astrup spoke on social media after the match and updated everyone on the retirement for the pair.
- Not the way we wanted to end it with the retirement, Anders had to pull out today and I support his decision, Astrup said on social media on Wednesday.