EURO CHAMPS 2014 Day 2 – Zwiebler out, Jorgensen barely survives

In a day of many upsets, The European Championships almost saw its men’s single event beheaded from its two main favourites. If top seed Jan Jorgensen survived 3 match points against Dieter Domke, Marc Zwiebler, the title holder left the competition as soon as the first round, beaten by local giant Vladimir Ivanov.

By Raphael Sachetat. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

What a day of amazing badminton! Laughs, cries, long, very long and suspenseful matches, match points saved, favourites sent packing: the badminton drama at its best for this new day of competition in Kazan, Russia. And the local players certainly enjoyed the home advantage in some key matches, starting with the early encounter between the 2m-tall Ivanov and the German number one and title holder Marc Zwiebler. The latter knew he had a tough first round and his fears were proven right when he bowed down 14-21, 22-24 to Vladimir Ivanov (photo), one of the few shuttlers who excel in both singles and doubles.  A few minutes later, Vladimir Malkov was adding a Russian name to the quarter final stage after edging 8^th seed Ville Lang.

The surprise of the day was yet to come as Jan O Jorgensen (photo), firm favourite to take the title after Zwiebler’s defeat, was pushed to his limit by German Dieter Domke, who claimed the first game 21-12 as a clear signal he was not intending to bow to the top seed. After losing the second game, the German got back on track and led 15-7 then again 20-17 in the rubber game to waste three match points and finally leave the match to his better ranked opponent. Domke, however, showed great sportsmanship after losing and hugged Jorgensen as if the fierce battle was already long gone.

Denmark’s Vittinghus and Axelsen, England’s Ouseph and Dutchman Eric Pang all secured their spot for the quarter-final as did the only French player remaining in the competition, Brice Leverdez, who will face Jorgensen on Friday.

Women’s singles shaken too

There were many unexpected losses in the women’s singles, where shuttlers had to play two rounds in one day as well. Second seed Kirsty Gilmour who only had to play for a few minutes for her first match against Maja Tvdry was taken by surprise by Ozge Bayrak (photo),who proved how good Turkish badminton had become in the past few years. Bayrak left no chance to the Scottish and won 21-13, 21-19 to scoop her first quarter final berth in the event. In the same lower part of the draw, both seeds Corrales from Spain and Nedelcheva from Bulgaria were beaten as well and the quarter final will see Anna Thea Madsen from Denmark take on local hope Golovanova. Gone too are the 4^th and 6^th seed Linda Zetchiri and Sashina Vignes from France. Instead, Danish rising star Line Kjaersfeldt and Karin Schnasse will fight on Friday for a semi final spot, while Carolina Marin, looking very sharp, will take on Stefani Stoeva, who beat 7^th seed Chloe Magee – the latter had a very tough previous match against Sabrina Jacquet, ending in an epic 28-26 in the decider after saving 5 match points in the second game, then again 4 more in the deciding game, coming back from 16-20 to clinch the match.

Adcocks out

Another major surprise saw Gabby and Chris Adcock (pictured below) sent packing as the number 2 seeds from England were beaten by Denmark’s Anders Kristiansen and Julie Houmann (photo).  Denmark secured 3 spots in the quarters while the Germans have two.

Russians managed to qualify three pairs for the quarter-final stage of the men’s doubles, with Ivanov/Sozonov surviving a tough match against Poland’s Wacha and Cwalina (21-19 in the decider). England and Denmark each have two pairs, looking quite strong as well.

There were no major upsets in the women’s doubles where all favourites advanced to the last 8.

All results HERE

Live streaming HERE