It's only the second day of the Korea Open 2023 and Anders Antonsen from Denmark is already the last European in the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
On first sight, it looks like an other dominant performance by all Asian players at the Korea Open and a disappointing week for European badminton. After two days of matches and just ahead of the round of 16, there is only one remaining player from Europe in the tournament. But to be fair, and without any disrespect to Carraggi, Tan, Azurmendi, Zilberman, Bay and Molhede, Antonsen was also the only European star player attending the World Tour Super 500 event in Yeosu.
While Antonsen won his opening round against Jean Hyeok Jin (Korea) in straight games 21-15, 21-19, most of the Europeans are using this week to rest and prepare for the upcoming Super 750 in Japan and of course the World Championships in August.
In his fight for a spot in the quarterfinals, Antonsen will face number two seed Chou Tien Chen (TPE) tomorrow. Although their head-to-head of 3-7 is not in favour of the Dane, his recent victory over Chou at the Singapore Open 2023 will give him courage for tomorrow's task.
Find all results of the Korea Open 2023
here.