WORLDS 2011 Day 1 – A bit of Magee magic for Chloe!

Women’s singles brought its share of upsets for the inaugural day of this year’s World Championships.  Ireland’s Chloe Magee sent the very the fierce Indonesian Adriyanti Firdasari packing after three tough first round games, while Spain’s up and coming talent Carolina Marin is clearly intending to make it big on the circuit, and first started with the Netherlands’ top star Yao Jie.

By Tarek Hafi, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Wembley dressed up with its best garments to welcome the earth’s best players on a stage that will soon to host the Olympics.  No one could deny how well the London 2011 and the BWF organizers punctiliously prepared, the event, to make it – long before the official start – a largely expected success.  Perfectly reminiscent of Birmingham’s 2003 World Champs, with a majestic red and black carpet, a bit chic for the sporting world, the Olympic arena has already been complimented on by many players through their own social network pages in delighted anticipation of next year’s festivities.

First to experiment on court in a formal encounter, Ireland’s Chloe Magee (pictured) was far from impressed by her opponent of the day, Adriyanti Firdasari, a former top 20 regular.

Even after an opening game loss, by a sizeable margin at 13-21, the young Irish shuttler clearly knew how things could, within a moment, turn upside down, how sport can become a totally unpredictable science, when you are filled with a “nothing-to-lose” state of mind, a state that forced her to remain stuck to the Indonesian’s score throughout the second game, battling against two match points and Firdasari’s non-stop attacking play to eventually emerge as the victor, 24-22.

“In the first game, I made some mistakes but I had the feeling that I could trouble her,” said Magee afterward.  “In the second game, when I had match points against me, I just said to myself I should give it all and try my best and I got a bit lucky with the net.  Then, I knew as a top player, she would play faster and put more pressure on me in the third, but she made mistakes and I was able to win.”

This exact analysis helped the top Irish player to pressure her opponent, who was still not able to recover from the second game loss, and helped draw the winner out, Chloe Magee, 21-13 in the third.

“This is definitely the best win of my career.  I had done well in the European tour before, but this is nothing compared to it.  I was so excited to participate in these World Championships.  I prepared especially to play this match, as I knew I had a chance even if this still comes as a surprise.  I had watched a lot of videos and my coach and I had worked on tactics.”

It is indeed a wonderful win for the Irish #1, which doesn’t blind the mixed doubles specialist to forget the next target “Now I have to play Saina.  She’s a world class player and I have nothing to lose, as today, so I’ll give it my best shot.”

A few hours later, an even younger player rejoiced over her fantastic win, over an even more heralded opponent.  Spanish jewel Carolina Marin, European Junior Champion, is taking the right path to shine on the world stage within a few months, as she already troubled the world’s best since her arrival on the circuit.  She can, at present, swank about beating the world’s best as she delivered a majestic match to dismiss the Netherlands’ Yao Jie, recent semi-finalist at the Singapore Open.

The Chinese-born player is very likely playing her last World Championship here, as she has talked often about retiring for the past year.  Meanwhile, the 18-year-old Andalusian will now take on All England runner up, Eriko Hirose, a dangerous opponent for Marin as she has often had problems against the Japanese playing style.

Another circuit veteran, Scotland’s Susan Egelstaff was shown the way out by an up and coming youngster, Michelle Li (pictured) of Canada.  The tall Toronto girl proved once again she is another player to watch out for in the very near future, from what she attested again, with her consistent improvements, using her height perfectly to play a well-settled game with some brilliant attacking play.  She took only two games to send Egelstaff back home, 22-20, 21-16.

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