EURO CHAMPS 2014 Day 1 – Former silver medallist bites the dust

Henri Hurskainen was the biggest casualty of the first day of the European Individual Championships which kicked off in Kazan, Russia. The Swede, silver medallist in 2012, was sent packing  by Belgium’s Yuhan Tan.

By Fontaine Chapman, live from Kazan. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Day one at the 2014 Intersport European Championships in Kazan, Russia, kicked off with the ritual ceremonial where players were marching behind their country names and carrying their flags. There were some smiling moments when players discovered heavy beards on Scott Evans, Kestutis Navickas and Ville Lang, followed by local dances which reminded how flexible Russians are. In the splendid hall with all four courts evenly lit, the competition could begin.

It all started with the mixed doubles where there were no surprises in these first round draws. The German number three seeds had to withdraw before the tournament even began which gave the young French pair, Baptise Carême and Anne Tran, a welcoming walkover into the second round. All other seeds who were in action on Wednesday eased passed their first round opponents; however, the men’s singles proved to have some surprises in store. Sweden’s main man and 2012 silver medallist, Henri Hurskainen (photo), was defeated in a three-game thriller by Yuhan Tan (photo) of Belgium. After winning the first game, a comfortable 21-14, Hurskainen fought back to win the second 21-18. Nevertheless, this didn’t knock Tan’s confidence as he took charge in the deciding game and won 7 consecutive points before the final 90-second break.

Everything to come off Tan’s racket worked to his advantage and he won 21-9, leaving Hurskainen to feel the sting of a first round loss.

“I surprised myself as day do day I don’t know if I will play good or bad and today proved to be one of the good days,” he told Badminton Europe.

Fellow Belgian and sister, Lianne Tan, also came out on top after pushing herself through three games against Finland’s Nanna Vainio. The women’s singles saw most of the day’s three-game contests. The most notable was the battle between experienced players, Karin Schnaase (photo) of Germany and Russia’s Ella Diehl, in a match just shy of the 60-minute mark. Schnaase delivered a blow to the host country by winning 21-14, 18-21, 21-15.

In evening’s men’s doubles, the strong Dutch pairing of Jacco Arends and Jelle Maas won a close contest with the ever improving Sam Magee and Jonathan Dolan of Ireland, 13-21, 21-17, 21-19. To close day one of the championships in Russia, the host’s men’s and women’s doubles players ended the day on a high by winning both their matches and continuing onto the second round, which kicks off at 10:00AM local time, on April 24^th.

All results HERE

Live streaming HERE