Thom Gicquel said it before the world championships in Copenhagen at the end of August: during a mixed year 2023, the Mulhouse native and his partner Delphine Delrue, long 5th in the world in mixed, had had “a hard time enjoying training and in competition. But with their recent change of coach, the 2022 European vice-champions are in the process of finding him again.
This improvement did not materialize in Denmark (third consecutive elimination at the Worlds in the 8th). But it finds its realization this week at the very tough Super 1000 in Changzhou. This Friday, the five-time champions of France qualified for the semi-finals by dominating for the third time in four confrontations the Japanese Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, world number 2, seeded N.2 and vice-champions of the 2021 world and 2022 (22-20, 21-14). They notably forced the decision by saving two shuttlecocks in the first set.
To reach the final, the 8th planetaries will have tried early this Saturday in France to take their revenge on their losers from the Danish Worlds, the Malaysians Toh Ee Wei and Cheng Tang Jie, 11th and winners in Copenhagen (20-22, 21-19, 21-12). St.G.
2023-09-08 18:22:24
#BADMINTON #Thom #Gicquel #semifinal
