General

Thomas Wandschneider utilising his impressive reach (credit Badminton Europe / Mark Phelan)
A rocky road for Europe’s best wheelchairs
Date: 3/28/2019 9:40 PM
Published by : Bobby Griffin (BEC)

Wandschneider and Rooke were flying through their singles draws until they faced the force of Asia in the quarter finals. Meanwhile Suter-Erath and Knoblauch cruise to the semis.



Thomas Wandschneider, the imposing German, completely asserted himself on the courts in Antalya earlier this week. WH1 men’s singles Group A saw Wandschneider concede a total of just 32 points against all 3 opponents, an incredible display of focus and concentration.


But the world number 1 and European Champion Wandschneider came up against Yang Tong, a Chinamen 35 years his junior, who’s making his way up through the WH1 ranks in the quarter final and stopped the German 21-15, 21-19.


“The singles event had this week has been perfect for me. I didn’t worry about the score-lines, I just took each point at a time and it felt like the group games were tougher than the score reflects. I think it is possible to beat Yang, hopefully I’ll get some revenge next week in Dubai.” 




READ: Impressive Day for Europe in New Delhi!




Rooke in epic before facing world number 1


Team GB's Martin Rooke came through a difficult test yesterday against Atsuya Watanabe to top WH2 men’s singles Group H. Winning the group was crucial to avoid a difficult last-16 draw. His 21-18, 22-20 win over the Japanese saw him through to face Zhao Xin from China. This morning the gritty Englishman had to dig deep from 18-16 down in the third game to seal victory with 5 straight points, in a little under an hour.


“The game plan was on point. I felt really strong. Everything came together late into the match, my movement and timing was bang on and I was hitting the shuttle well”


He went on to face Kim Jungjun in the quarter final late this afternoon, but the Korean was too fast for Rooke after that gruelling match beforehand and the singles competition ends at the quarter final stage for the WH2 European Champion. 




European WH1-2 men’s doubles Champions Rooke and Wandschneider eased through Group A this week and dominated their last 16 match against England’s Kilburn and Ranganathan, setting up a mouth-watering quarter final prospect against Chinese Mai Jianpeng and Qu Zimo tomorrow.




Who run the World? Girls!


We back up yesterday’s featured article Suter-Erath in the hunt for another title to follow the progress of both the featured Swiss second seed, and European Champion and number 1 seed Germany’s Valeska Knoblauch in their hunt for WH1 domination. 


Both through to semi-final stage of the WH1 women’s singles tomorrow, with straight games wins in their quarter finals. They also feature in the WH1-2 women’s doubles quarter finals tomorrow morning where wins will see them face each other in a potential semi-final. One to watch!



In other news..


Europe’s best hope for SU5 medal success Poland’s Bartlomiej Mroz exits the tournament with a shock defeat to good friend Tay Wei Ming from Singapore.


“We both played at a really high level today, both really determined and at a fast pace.  Yes I lost in a quarter final at the beginning of the qualification period for the Paralympics. I don’t feel bad, this is just the beginning and a long way to go yet. 


It was a good experience for me, and a good test after a long training camp back home. Dubai is next week and I’m looking forward to coming back to compete then. I’ll be in a good condition with training and the gym and some rest and have a chance to study my opponents this week.”



Look out for updates from the Turkish Para-Badminton International this week. For the full list of entries, see tournament software here with this link.

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