The eyes of badminton enthusiasts were turned towards the Asian continent during the last two weeks. Indeed after the Chinese Open (Super 1000), it is in Korea (Super 500) that the best players had a meeting this week. It was an opportunity to see some of the well-known Orleans Masters heads there.
Victor China Open :
In the men's singles, Kashyap Parupalli, a regular at the Sports hall(quarter-finalist in 2018) is the man in form. In Changzhou, he easily disposes of the French number one Brice Leverdez (21/12 21/15) in the first round. But lost in 1/8th final to the future finalist of the tournament, the Indonesian Ginting, in three sets.
On the women's side, the Russian Evgeniya Kosetskaya (semi-finalist of the OIC 2017) creates the surprise by eliminating the world number 2 Japanese Yamaguchi. (20/22 21/17 24/22). More than 30 places separated the two players in the BWF ranking ! She will be stopped in 1/8th against another Japanese player.
Korea Open :
No luck on the draw side. We would have preferred that they meet a little further in the Korean tournament! A quarter-final between Kashyap Parupalli and the Dane Jan O Jorgensen (also quarter-finalist of OM 2018) which quickly turned to the advantage of the Indian. (24/22 21/8). However, he will not succeed in destabilizing the recent world champion Kento Momota in the semi-final.
At 33, the Indian should be back in the top 20 very soon thanks to his performances this season. In fact he was a finalist in the Canada Open 100 and a semi-finalist in two Super 500 events.
The step was also too high for the promising Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn (OM 2019), from the qualifications. He beaten in the first round by the future Japanese winner. (21/17 21/13).
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (OM 2018 quarter-finalist) will have made Tzu Ying Tai tremble ! In the quarter-finals, as in their two previous matches in 2019, the Indonesian lost in two sets to the world number one. (24/22 22/20).
A counter-performance, on the other hand, for the French women Léa Palermo & Delphine Delrue (three times finalists of the Orleans tournament) who like Anne Tran & Émilie Lefel were defeated in the first rounds of both events. In mixed our tricolor winners Delphine Delrue & Thom Gicquel did not evolve at their usual levels and are stopped in the 16th final twice. They will hope to restart in the coming weeks in Europe this time with the Dutch Open and then the Danish Open to prepare as well as possible the internationals of France.
