The Badminton Future Series continues this week with the 2019 FZ Forza Slovak Open, beginning on Thursday.
Sportove Centrum M-Sport in Trencin will be host to some of the World’s top players from the 27th to the 3rd March to see who will take home this year’s title.
Slovakian hopes
Slovakia will be hopeful of some hometown success over the coming week with a number of Slovakian players pushing to give the crowd something to cheer.
Their main hopes lie in the Mixed Doubles where the duo of Milan Dratva and Martina Repiska are the top seeds for the tournament.
The World number 111 pair will be hoping to use this as away of bouncing back up the rankings in what is just their second tournament together so far in 2019. They’ll open the opening round on Thursday when they take on Norway’s Magnus Christensen and Natalie Syvertsen.
Also, Repiska will fancy her chances in the Women’s Singles category. She’s the number two seed in the Singles so will be dreaming of a double win in front of the home fans.
Repiska will take on a qualifier in the opening round on Thursday as the World number 88 looks to win her first title since the Moroccan International back in 2017.
Can Holden go one step further in Slovakia?
England’s Abigail Holden will be looking to go one step further in this leg of the Future Series.
The 19 year old is seeded 7th in Slovakia and will be even more determined to come home with the title after losing out in the final in the only other event of the Future Series so far in Iceland after a defeat to Switzerland’s Ayla Huser.
Holden will open up her campaign with a matchup against Moldova’s Vlada Ginga on Thursday.
See all of the opening round matchups here