Magnificent performances by Lucas Claerbout and Arnaud Merklé today in India. They both qualify for the semi-finals of a super 300. Unheard of for France.
Tomi Popov had already been in the final, and even won a Super 300. But two tricolors in the semi-finals of such a tournament, that had never been seen. Arnaud Merklé started by striking a blow, going for one of the favorites of the tournament, HS Prannoy, after a superb, very intense match which saw the French suffer physically at the end of the game, but who comes out of it masterfully. winning 21-19, 21-16, leaving the 24th player in the world groggy.
The Alsatian is probably having one of his finest international matches here at this level, with a ticket to the semi-finals where he will meet Mithun Manjunah, a player he faced last week with a victory for the young Indian in three sets. The tricolor’s ability to recover will be the key to the match, to get a Super 300 final and why not meet… Lucas Claerbout!
The player from Talence, 74th in the world, also shone this Friday afternoon, with a convincing victory over the Malaysian Cheam Jun Wei (72nd) with a first set overflown 21-11 and a second much more hung, for a final victory 21-19, and the right to face the young Irish prodigy Nhat Nguyen in the semi-finals. The pair met two years ago with the French side winning in straight sets, but the Irishman has since made great progress and will be a tough opponent.
Less luck for the blue duos today. Anne Tran and William Villeger lost early in the session against locals (22-24, 17-21) while the Villeger / Delrue duo came even closer to beating Arjun / Kapila, the #2 Indians, 21 -16, 19-21, 21-19.
The announcement that hurts
In addition, the world of badminton has experienced a rather significant episode of the control of the federations on the world circuit and on the players, with the announcement by the Malaysian Badminton Federation that they are banning Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei, the two best singles players in the country, to play in any competition for 2 years, after they expressed their wish to become independent. This created an earthquake of protests, especially among the Danes who for the most part – Victor Axelsen and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the lead – protested vehemently against this decision, depriving the winner of the All England and the double junior world champion of every opportunity to practice their sport. Lee posted a grieving profile picture on his social media as they swirled with invective against the Malaysian Federation.
Unless the decision is appealed, the two players will have no choice but to wait two years without playing competitively – which is almost impossible – or to take advantage of the BWF rule which allows a player to register via another Federation (but still under its colors of citizenship) after 12 months spent in this new country.
To be continued…
Photos (live): Jnanesh Salian / Badmintonphoto
