As expected, South Korea was too big a mouthful for the Danish women’s national badminton team. But the Danes did well
Line Kjærsfeldt was the only Dane who really had no chance. Photo: Jens Dresling
Denmark was already ready for the quarter-finals before the group final on Tuesday morning Danish time.
And it was probably very good, because the favorites from South Korea had no intention of sharing anything with the Scandinavians.
The Asian class team led by world star An Se-young won 5-0, defeating Line Kjærsfeldt 21-14, 21-14 in two sets.
Kjærsfeldt really had no chance with the Korean, who has vacuumed the biggest tournaments for victories in the past few seasons, and only at the change of sides in the 2nd set, where she led 11-10, was there any hope. But then An Se-young went from 10-11 to 14-11 and again from 14-12 to 19-12, and then that party was dead.
Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen were also not left with many chances against the All England champions Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, and they also lost in two sets, 21-19, 21-16.
Wild shoal in the 2nd set
But the Danes were, as the figures show, very good in the 1st set and were ahead both 17-15 and 19-18. However, it looked completely dull after the change of sides, where the South Koreans pushed on and built up a big lead that effectively decided the match.
Only a wild shoal, in which Fruergaard and Thygesen worked their way back from 8-17 to 16-18, meant that hope was briefly restored.
But then Baek and Lee managed to close the match.
The Danish hope now rested on Line Christophersen’s shoulders, and it certainly did not seem impossible against Sim Yu-yin, who as number 37 in the world is not the most formidable of Asian women’s singles.
But she was better than Line Christophersen and won 21-19, 21-15 over the five-time Danish champion.
Dawall disappointed
The team match was thus lost, but in the group stage all matches are played anyway. That is why Alexandra Bøje and Amalie Magelund also came on the court in the 2nd women’s doubles for the All England winner from last year Kong Hee-yong, who was paired with Jeong na-eun. Here, Bøje and Magelund managed to grab the 2nd set but in the end were distanced and lost the match 21-14, 19-21, 21-11.
And then Julie Dawall Jakobsen could go on the court as the icing on the cake and play for honor against Kim Ga-ram, who is only number 74 in the world and thus far behind the Dane on that list. By comparison, Julie Dawall is number 40.
But it just wasn’t the Danes’ day in Chengdu, and 26-year-old Dawall lost the close match 21-19, 23-21.
It has not yet been determined who Denmark will meet in the quarter-finals. However, it will be one of the three other group winners. At the time of writing, only China is certain to win its group.
2024-04-30 14:14:22
#Denmark #fought #vain #World #Cup #Ekstra #Bladet
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