From 10th to 15th of January 2023 occured the 2023 BWF tournaments kick-off with the first one of the year : the Petronas Malaysia Open 2023 in Kuala Lampur in Malaysia.
This first tournament was filled with plot twist, we found there a lot of badminton players who took part in our Orleans Masters and who gave their best to get to the bottom of this championship, mainly our French players :
Our French pair Thom GICQUEL and Delphine DELRUE, promoted to the 5th place of the mundial ranking and winner of our 2019 edition, stopped at quarter-final by 2 sets (15-21/6-21) against the Chinese duo ZHENG/HUANG.
The French player Toma Junior POPOV, winner of our 2022 edition, doesn't select himself for the first tour and bows before the Malaysian Liew DAREN, by 2 sets to 1 (15-21/21-14/17-21)
In the same line, the POPOV brothers, Christo and Toma Junior, were not selected in their Men's double category. They were against the Indonesian ALFIAN/ARDIANTO who won by 2 sets to 1 (21-19/16-21/15-21).
Finally, the French women duo LAMBERT/TRAN bowed facing the Indonesian women duo KUSUMA/PRATIWI by 2 sets (16-21/15-21).
Podium for this first tournament is the following :
◾ Men's single : it's not a surprise, the Danish player Viktor AXELSEN begins the year with a good start with a win by 2 sets facing the Japanese Kodai NARAOKA, who well fight on the second set (21-6/21-15)
◾ Women's single : an also good beginning of year for the Japanese Akane YAMAGUCHI who wins the last match against her Korean opponent Se Young AN, by 2 sets to 1 (12-21/21-19/21-11).
◾ Men's double : the Indonesian ALFIAN/ARDIANTO emerge victorious from their category by 2 sets to 1 (21-18/18-21/21-13) against the Chinese LIANG/WANG
◾ Women's double : the Chinese duo CHEN/JIA wins their decisive match against the Korean BAEK/LEE (21-10/21-16)
◾ Mixed double : Japanese players WANATABE/HIGASHINO let their place for the Chinese duo ZHENG/HUANG by 2 sets despite an intense first set (19-21/11-21).
So we had full of plot twists during this first tournament. Others are yet to come before meeting back the Orleans Masters Badminton's new edition, like this week with the Yonex Sunrise Open 2023 in India. We'll make you a summary soon.
