Newsletter

Badminton. The Mulhousien Thom Gicquel was close to the stars in the quarter-finals of the Indian Open

They will have to wait some more. This Friday in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise India Open in New Delhi (World Tour Super 750), the Mulhousien Thom Gicquel and the Camblysienne Delphine Delrue, world No. 5 and seeded 8, lost for the sixth time in as many meetings against the pair which has dominated the mixed for five years, the Chinese Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong, n°1, seeds 1, 2021 Olympic vice-champions and triple world champions 2018, 2019 and 2022 ( 21-14, 15-21, 12-21).

But in their ascent to the heights, the vice-champions of Europe 2022 have taken a new step. Since their first duel in the final of the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters (Super 500) on June 12 in Jakarta, they had never taken a set from the Asians. They had certainly offered themselves six flying first innings in the quarterfinals of the Petronas Malaysia Open (Super 750) on 1is July in Kuala Lumpur (23-25, 20-22), then two in the quarterfinals of the Super 750 in Denmark on October 21 in Odense (20-22, 13-21), but without concluding.

In New Delhi, the quadruple champions of France stifled Zheng and Huang in the opening set thanks to a perfect start. They started the second on the same basis (8-6), but the formidable Chinese machine then started. Returning in the wake of the world No. 1 thanks to a 4-0 (13-14), they ended up dropping this second act.

In the third, decisive, the tricolors still caressed, until 11-12, the dream of a huge feat that two disastrous series – 0-4 then, then 0-5 to 12-16 – swept away. “It’s hard to take 15-21 and 12-21 in the last two sets when it feels like we’re not far off at all,” sighs the Red Star international who, however, retains “good game” made with his partner. “It’s still the first time that we’ve taken a set from them. »

“It’s cool to beat them in speed”

“We put a lot of pressure from the start, hit hard. We surprised them. It’s cool to beat them in speed,” does he develop, “Afterwards, they adapted and it took me a while to block them. Despite everything, we are well in the third set, but we collapse a little on faults where we force a little. That’s why they are number 1: they don’t make the mistakes we can make. »

The Gicquel/Delrue duo will now join Jakarta. He will play there on Tuesday the third and last tournament of his tour in Asia, the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters of which he reached the final in 2022.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending