BULGARIAN INT’L – Stoeva sisters take back home title

Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva won back the women’s doubles title at the 2015 Bulgarian International Challenge on a day that saw European shuttlers fend off three tough challenges from intercontinental visitors.

Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

Last year, Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva (pictured) came into their home International Challenge as both top seeds and as two-time defending champions.  Not only was their streak snapped by their quarter-final defeat at the hands of Indonesian visitors but the Southeast Asian team managed to sweep the doubles titles.

This year, the Stoeva sisters made no mistake, and beat Pan Am Games gold medallists Eva Lee and Paula Lynn Obanana in straight games.  In fact, the Bulgarians’ last two matches were both repeats of their past home finals.  In the semis, both they and the Americans won close matches.  The sisters beat 2012 runners-up Bayrak/Yigit of Turkey 21-19 in their deciding game.

Meanwhile, in their semi-final, Lee and Obanana won a repeat of their 2014 Pan Am Championship final against Canada’s Phyllis Chan and Alex Bruce, this time just scraping by 23-21 to narrowly avoid a third game.

Pablo Abian (pictured) of Spain won his second title of the year and his first abroad.  He won the longest and closest match of the day, beating India’s R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 21-19 in the third game after 71 minutes. The Indian was looking for his first title since late 2012.

In the mixed doubles, Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba won their fourth International Challenge in a row, in their fifth straight final.  They beat Russia’s Dremin and Dimova in straight games.

In the last match of the day, Olga Konon made Germany the only team to leave with two titles.  Their first was the men’s doubles, which went to Beck/Kaesbauer. Konon was also the second Belarus-born shuttler to win, as she shares her birthplace with mixed champion Zieba.

Final results
XD: Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Zieba (POL) beat Evgenij Dremin / Evgenia Dimova (RUS) [3]  21-14, 21-18
MD: Raphael Beck / Peter Kaesbauer (GER) beat Manu Attri / B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) [1]  21-14, 21-16
WD: Gabriela Stoeva / Stefani Stoeva (BUL) [1] beat Eva Lee / Paula Lynn Obanana (USA) [2]  21-14, 21-10
MS: Pablo Abian (ESP) [4] beat R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND) [3]  21-17, 16-21, 21-19
WS: Olga Konon (GER) beat Maria Ulitina (ESP) [7]  19-21, 21-16, 21-14

Click here for complete results