JAPAN OPEN 2013 R16 – Europe’s singles knocked out

Europe’s flag bearers Marc Zwiebler and Jan O Jorgensen both suffered unfortunate fates in the hands of their Asian opponents, Kenichi Tago and H. S. Prannoy respectively.

By Emzi Regala and Miyuki Komiya, Badzine Correspondents live in Tokyo.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

The Asians stretched the Europeans into rubber games eventually coming out with impressive victories in the men’s singles.  All is not lost for Europe, though, as all of its doubles pairs dominated their opposition, all 4 pairs – all from Denmark – victorious in straight games, including an upset of 5th-seeded Indonesians Angga Pratama / Ryan Agung Saputra by Mads Conrad-Petersen / Mads Pieler Kolding (pictured below).

Meanwhile, it was a disappointing day for mixed doubles defending champions Chan Peng Soon / Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia as their campaign came to an abrupt end at the hands of their Chinese challengers.

“I was satisfied with my performance but I’m disappointed that I lost”, Mark Zwiebler told Badzine on his 16-21, 21-19, 14-21 loss to Japan’s Kenichi Tago.  “I still have jetlag. I couldn’t sleep until 2:30 in the morning last night that’s why I’m suffering from a headache.

“But I fought hard believing that I could win.  It was not a favourable result but overall I think it was a good match.”

Meanwhile, H. S. Prannoy (pictured top) displayed his attacking prowess to get past Jan O. Jorgensen in the first game.  The Danish shuttler retaliated with his own powerful smashes in the second game but has caused his demise as he just did not have enough reserves to pull a come-from-behind victory, eventually losing his chance to advance to the quarter-finals.

However, Prannoy’s more popular compatriot, women’s singles 8^th seed P. V. Sindhu, could not follow with another victory for India, as she was outshone by the latest Japanese sensation, 16-year-old World Junior Championship runner-up Akane Yamaguchi (pictured below).

The veteran continues to shine

The evening session’s highlight showcased local shuttler and 2012 World Junior Champion Kento Momota (pictured below) against Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam.  The crowd went in full force behind its young hero Momota, who almost pulled off an upset only to end up being taught a valuable lesson by the veteran Tien Minh on physicality and how to appropriately spread the required reserves to pull through a victory.

Momota was given a yellow card in the third game for deliberately trying to delay the game in order to catch his breath.  The Vietnamese poised play earned him a spot in the quarter-finals with his 3-game victory 21-17, 19-21, 21-15.

No back-to-back titles for Goh/Chan

The biggest disappointment came with the early exit of defending champions Chan Peng Soon / Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia.  Just as in the first round, Chan/Goh had a very rusty start, completely not finding rhythm.  Totally outshined by their Chinese opponents Liu Cheng / Bao Yixin, the Malaysians were able to register only 8 points in the first game.

Goh successfully controlled the net in the second game but Liu’s powerful attack was too much to handle for the Malaysian pair’s defense.  The small Malaysian crowd desperately cheered for their compatriots but to no avail.

Once again Malaysia’s only hope rests on defending men’s singles champion Lee Chong Wei’s shoulders.  Lee, for his part, seemed to have no problem at all demolishing Anand Pawar 21-12, 21-16.

Click here to for complete Round of 16 results