Delphine Delrue et Thom Gicquel are back at the BWF World Tour Finals.
As in 2020, the French mixed doubles pair participate in the last tournament of the year after securing their place in the top 8 of the World Tour Ranking. She is currently ranked seventh. This year, the Blues notably reached the final of the Indonesian Masters and the last four of the Saarbrücken Open, their latest outing. These performances allowed the two right-handers to have their ticket to Bangkok and the toughest tournament of the season.
From the group stage, they will face Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (CHN), reigning Olympic vice-champions, Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie (DSM) and Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (WHERE)
The Tricolores will face great adversity, but they have no inferiority complex to have. And they know it.
“From now on, we are no longer looked down on. When we enter the field, we see it in the eyes of the opponents. They know us and they no longer arrive quietly. We are taken seriously,” they said to Olympics.com in spring.
Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel have earned this respect thanks to their regularity, they have not left the world top 15 since February 18, 2020, but also with their brilliance like their success on Dechopol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai at the Indonesian Masters.
At the BWF World Tour Finals 2022, the Thais are simply aiming for a third consecutive mixed doubles title.
Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel hold the best French performance at the BWF World Tour Finals
The Habs and the 2021 world champions have already faced each other in the tournament which brings together the best eight of the World Tour Ranking in each table. It was in January 2021, when Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel participated for the first time in their careers.
They were only 22 years old, but had written the history of French badminton. They had finished the group stage in first place in group B thanks to their success over the Indonesians Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (14-21, 21-14, 21-17), the Malaysians Soon Huat Goh and Shevon Jemie Lai (21-17, 21-9) and the Germans Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Lohau (21-10, 21-15).
This ranking was synonymous with qualification for the semi-finals. It was a great first for French badminton players, all tables combined.
Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel had been beaten by the future winners Dechapol Puavaranukroh et Sapsiree Taerattanachai (15-21, 17-21) close to the final, but they had established an unprecedented feat that proves their ability to compete with the best mixed doubles on the planet.
And two years later, it’s even truer.
READ ALSO – Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel: “Nobody looks down on us anymore”
Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel are the second youngest pair in the BWF World Tour Finals 2022
Since the BWF World Tour Finals 2020, Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel have continued to gain experience. And it will not be too much for a tournament where they form the second youngest pair with the Indonesians Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.
They have lived through the last 18 months rich in lessons. The tricolor pair discovered the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020in 2021, won her first Super 300 with the 2021 Swiss Open, captured a silver medal at the 2022 European Championships and reached her first final in a Super 500 tournament at the Indonesia Masters.
All these performances allow them to increase in power on the road of Paris 2024 Olympic Games. But Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel can also take advantage of it from the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 to end the year 2022 in style.
How to watch Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel at the BWF World Tour Finals?
The BWF World Tour Finals are broadcast live by Olympic Channel via Olympics.com
