Even though Japan Open in the previous week, brought some good results for European badminton, many players were looking forward to a new chance in Seoul. But there were no Europeans to be found in the finals at Victor Korea Open, and a single women’s double in the semifinals.
The tournaments’ second seeds in mixed double, the Adcocks from England, suffered a quick defeat for the second week in a row. While brand new constellations from Denmark was rewarded with quarterfinals for both Line Kjaersfeldt/Kim Astrup and Sara Thygesen/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
Thygesen and Skaarup Rasmussen even brought their Malaysian opponents, the newly Olympic Silver medalists, Chan Peng Soon/Masgoh Liu Ying [3] into a three-set game; 19-21 in the third.
Jan O Jorgensen [3] looked confident despite his defeat in the Japan Open final, but found himself out after only the second round in Seoul. The same was to be said of German Marc Zwiebler, who made it all the way to the semifinal in Tokyo, only to suffer the same destiny as Jorgensen in Seoul.
Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, were better off than in Tokyo, but had to bow down in the quarterfinal to sixth seed Son Wan Ho of the hosting country.
Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria(pictured above) played their first quarterfinal in a Superseries tournament against Chinese Luo/Luo [3]. But the family clash between the two groups of siblings ended in Chinese favor: 19-21, 21-15, 21-18.
Their fellow Europeans, and last week’s women’s double-winners in Tokyo, became the next victim for the Luo sisters in the following semifinal. Despite their remarkable effort to keep their streak going in Seoul, Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl did not make it to the final being defeated: 21-15, 17-21, 21-12.
This left the finals at Victor Korea Open with only Korean and Chinese entries.
Results from Sunday's finals can be found
here.
2016 Victor Korea Open were to be the last international tournament for the local men’s double hero and world number one, Lee Yong Dae(pictured above). He announced his retirement during a press conference in Seoul.
Luckily, for the fans not at least, his last match was in the men’s double final and the home crowd got the well-deserved parting of their dreams; a close, high level, and entertaining men’s double fight – with the Koreans coming out on top.
His victory at Victor Korea Open marked his 43rd Superseries title, making him the second most winning player at Superseries level after Lee Chong Wei.
In the men’s single final, the home advantage was not enough for the local to win. His opponent, Chinese Qiao Bin, 23, is ranked number 41 in the world but, nevertheless, he took the victory after three sets, and quite convincing as well: 21-11, 21-23, 21-7.
International elite-badminton has an exciting time ahead with many stars retiring and new talent blossoming. In the beginning of a new Olympic cycle changes like these are inevitable, and it will be exciting to see how it will develop in the tournaments coming.
We hope to see more European players in the final rounds during the next Superseries tournaments:
YONEX Denmark Open October 18-23, in Odense (Premier Superseries)
YONEX French Open October 25-30, in Paris (Superseries)