YOUTH OLYMPICS Day 2 – European girls match Asians

Europe will have its only chance for a medal in the girls’ event of the Youth Olympics, with no fewer than 4 players left in the draw – just as many as Asians – in the quarter-final stage.

By Timothy Chan, Badzine Correspondent, reporting live from Singapore. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Having beaten top seed Misaki Matsutomo yesterday, Josephine Wentholt of the Netherlands make sure she did a good job to secure that quarter-final berth, winning her third match, against Kate Foo Kune 21-7, 21-12.

Another unseeded European girl, Lene Clausen (pictured shaking hands with Deprez) of Denmark, tonight upset fifth seed Fabienne Deprez of Germany to deprive Fabienne of that quarter-final berth. After 20-22 in the first game, Lene made a strong comeback to take the next 2 games at 21-18, 21-9.

“I wanted to win because she was European and there is always some kind of battle between us, somehow,” Lene said after the upset. “I am happy I could win tonight as it was a tight match.”

Earlier in the day, Lene had easily beaten Bangi Bridget Shamim of Uganda 21-8, 21-7. “Now I hope I can beat the Vietnamese girl. We practised together and I beat her then, even if it was hard,” she hinted. Clausen is still a high school girl but is hoping to get serious next year. “I spar with a Slovenian girl in my home club, Spela Sylvester, and it’s good for me, but next year, I may take a step forward and take a year off of school to play badminton. Of course, the results here might make a change for me.”

The third unseeded girl to make it to the quarter-finals is the unexpected giant-killer Vu Thi Trang (pictured) of Vietnam. It was a superb performance from Vu as she had to overcome all odds to beat two very tough opponents in Choe Hye In of South Korea and second-seeded Fukuman Naoko of Japan.

Tonight, although the second seed came in as the heavy favourite, Naoko had already been beaten that morning by Choe, meaning she had only a slim chance of advancing, even with a win. After Vu took the first game, Naoko did rally back to take one but ultimately her lost cause became a 21-15, 16-21, 21-10 win, for the Vietnamese underdog. Vu and Clausen, both unseeded, will meet in the quarter-final.

Sarah Milne (pictured) of Great Britain is pleased to qualify for the quarter-finals to meet Wentholt, after winning her third match today against Alexandra Mathis of Austria 21-11, 21-10. Asked for her strategy and preparation in winning her matches so far, she said “Sleep well, eat well and rest well.” She is also motivated by her parents’ presence at the YOG. And she is loving the big crowd too at an event like the Youth Olympic Games.

Carolina Marin of Spain is also pleased that she has been playing better than expected, thus far. Today noon she confirmed her quarter-final berth with the third match win against Volkanovska Dragana of Macedonia 21-5, 21-10.

After her win she said “I am ready to meet the Indonesian or Chinese player in the quarter-final. My goal now is to be on the podium.” She also said that she must be more defensive in her play in the coming matches. As it turned out, of course, it will be China’s Deng Xuan who will take on one of Europe’s most promising prospects.