COPENHAGEN MASTERS 2010 Finals – Surprise, surprise….

Peter Gade (photo) won another title in the Copenhagen Masters, but the surprise of the day came with the loss of World Number ones Boe and Mogensen to Denmark’s new pair of Conrad Petersen/Rasmussen. Salakjit Ponsana won with a walkover from Tine Baun.

By Raphael Sachetat. Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

The match of the day was not – as expected – any of the singles matches in Copenhagen. First, because there was no women’s singles final. Tine Baun, sick to her stomach, had to relinquish the 30,000 Danish Kronen (US$5,300) to Salakjit Ponsana. As for the men’s singles, Peter Gade left no chance to Salakjit’s brother, Boonsak, and took away yet another title with a clear 21-11, 21-12 victory.

But the best match was the men’s doubles between the clear favourites – Boe and Mogensen, actually world number one players in their category, and their compatriots Jonas Rasmussen and Mads Conrad Petersen (photo). The latter had replaced Lars Paaske, who bid farewell to badminton last August during the world championships.  Paaske made a public appearance and was thanked for his long career under Denmark’s flag, but he probably didn’t expect his former partner to shine with the newcomer Conrad-Petersen.

After one game all, the two pairs, who train together in Brondby, had to go to a third game.  Rasmussen and Conrad-Petersen took a clear 16-6 lead and it seemed that they were on for an easy win, but their opponents struck back and scored 7 straight points. The suspense was only starting when they trailed again 17-20 but saved 3 match points to level up at 20-20. It was then felt that experience could prevail over Petersen’s youth but the rookie and his more experienced partner managed to keep ahead and avoided any match point against them. However, it was on their 7^th match point that they finally concluded the match before Rasmussen fell on his knees.

“It’s amazing, I still haven’t figured it out yet. It’s probably one of the best days in my life. It’s a huge boost of confidence for me. I’m already looking forward to practice tomorrow and the next week. It’s good because we were a bit down after China and Hong Kong Open, but this feels very good,” said the young Mads Conrad-Petersen to Badminton Denmark. For Jonas Rasmussen, it was another sweet victory as he stands as a nemesis to his younger opponents, having beaten Boe and Mogensen already twice this year in crucial ties played with Lars Paaske: in the final of the Yonex All England and the final of the European Championships.

“I’m probably not their best friend right now and it must be tough for them and I do believe that they at least deserved to win one of them, but we’ll be back to practice tomorrow together,” said Rasmussen.

Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen scooped the fourth gold at stake with a three-game success over compatriots Rytter Juhl and Delbo Larsen.

The end of three days of great badminton was then over, with – as usual – an outstanding job from the organization which provided with live reports and video feed all through the week available only minutes after each game – a clear signal to all 2011 competitions about what badminton needs to get promoted the right way.

Final results

MS : Peter Gade (DEN) beat Boonsak Ponsana  (THA): 21-11, 21-12
WS : Salakjit Ponsana (THA, photo) beat Tine Baun (DEN) : W/O
MD : Conrad-Petersen/Rasmussen (DEN) beat Boe/Mogensen (DEN) : 21-16, 14-21, 25-23
Mx: Fischer-Nielsen/Pedersen (DEN) beat Delbo-Larsen/Rytter-Juhl (DEN) : 21-18, 18-21, 21-15

Official website HERE

Live results HERE