The YONEX Welsh International Championships 2023 brought us an exciting dose of badminton action. Let's dive into the finals of this thrilling event!
In the women's singles final, Hungarian player Agnes Korosi faced her best friend Rosy Oktavia Pancasari from France. In the end, Korosi lost 14-21 14-21 to the French player. In a post-match interview, Pancasari expressed how it feels to compete against a friend in such an important match. "Before the match we talked with each other and said, 'Okay, you are my best friend but sorry, in the court we are not."
In mixed doubles, Gregory and Jenny Mairs played against German duo Jan Colin Voelker and Stine Kuespert. Voelker and Kuespert got the win over the English pair with a scoreline of 22-20 21-16. They declared this win made them really happy as they have been in many finals before but they did not manage to secure that final win, and now the German pair is glad to take the title home.
Next was the men single's final where 20-year-old Finnish player Joakim Oldorff defeated England's Cholan Kayan, 21-11 21-19, in their first time-ever facing each other. In the quarterfinals stage, Oldorff stated that he came to Wales to win the whole tournament and so he did it. "It feels good to win the tournament," said the Finnish player.
Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva won the competition 24-22 22-21 against Natasja P. Anthonisen from Denmark and Alyssa Tirtosentono from Netherlands. After the final, the Stoevas said that they were happy to win even tough they had an intense last couple of weeks playing tournaments to get points to qualify for next year's Olympics.
When asked about the difference in playing in major badminton events and the European Circuit, Stefani said: "We just try to focus whether it is an International Challenge, a Super 100 or a Super 1000. We fight because it is the Olympic qualification and we're trying to qualify to our third Olympics in Paris."
Last but not least, the famous badminton twin brothers Christopher and Matthew Grimley won the mixed doubles title by defeating Bjarne Geiss and Jan Colin Voelker from Germany, 18-21, 21-16, 21-17. "We are actually playing the 2024 European Men's and Women's Team Championships qualifications, we are looking forward to that."
Congratulations to all the winners!