53 European doubles pairs and singles players were in action on the opening day of the World Championships in Paris.
Inside the well-attended Adidas Arena, badminton of the very highest level was on display as the world’s stars took to the green courts.
At major championships, anything can happen – and who doesn’t remember when Kevin Cordon from Guatemala stunned Chen Long at the World Championships back in 2011? We haven’t yet seen an upset of that magnitude on day one, but one of the biggest surprises came when 4th seed Li Shi Feng was knocked out by Japan’s Yushi Tanaka.
As mentioned, Europe had an incredible number of players on court today, and you can find the full overview of results from the day’s matches here.
Early in the day, Julien Carraggi, who has been struggling to pick up wins this year, managed to fight his way into the next round after a three-game victory over Le, 20–22, 21–16, 21–9. A relieved Carraggi told us afterwards that it felt good to finally get the winning feeling back. On Wednesday, however, he will need to produce his absolute best if he wants to keep progressing, as he faces world number one Shi Yu Qi.
Also advancing safely were France two highest-ranked men’s singles players, Alex Lanier and Christo Popov, who both looked sharp in their opening matches.
Later in the evening, Nhat Nguyen secured his place in round two after beating Brian Yang for the first time in his career. These World Championships also mark Nguyen’s final tournament with his coach Iskander, who will leave for Malaysia afterwards. It was clear in Nguyen’s post-match reflections that he wants to extend their journey together as long as possible by delivering strong performances and giving his coach the best possible farewell.
On the women’s singles side, two young players – Clara Lassaux and Petra Maixnerova – faced insurmountable challenges against An Se Young and Gregoria Tunjung, respectively. Although the Europeans couldn’t make the matches close, both left the court with heads held high, having gained valuable experience on the biggest stage.
Both Danish representatives, Mia Blichfeldt and Julie Dawall Jakobsen, cruised through their openers in straight games, as did Ozge Bayrak. Yvonne Li, however, had to dig deep – after dropping a marathon opening game 30–28, she bounced back strongly to win the next two 21–13, 21–9.
In men’s doubles, the home favorites gave the French fans plenty to cheer about. The Popov brothers dominated against Edison and Yu, while European Championship silver medalists Eloi Adam and Leo Rossi powered past Rory Easton and Alex Green 21–17, 21–14. Also advancing were Bourakkadi/Neumann, Kjær/Søgaard, Kral/Kral, Garcia/Piris, Grimley/Grimley and Dunn/Pringle.
In women’s doubles, the young Swiss pair Amiguet/Racloz caused an upset by taking out Hankiewicz/Marczak in three games, 14–21, 21–13, 21–13.
In total, 11 European women’s doubles pairs progressed to round two, with Ercetin/Inci advancing via walkover. Among those moving on were home favorites Margot Lambert and Camille Pognante – the latter making her World Championship debut – who will face Lee/Baek in the next round. Defending European champions Stoeva/Stoeva also advanced comfortably.
Tomorrow brings the second half of the men’s and women’s singles first rounds, the start of the mixed doubles category, as well as round two in men’s and women’s doubles.
There are plenty of exciting clashes to look forward to, including:
Toma Popov taking on Anthony Ginting, who recently returned at the Japan Open after six months out.
Matthias Kicklitz facing the popular 5th seed Jonathan Christie.
Neslihan Arin up against 8th seed Tomoka Miyazaki.
2024 European Youth Player of the Year Kaloyana Nalbantova challenging former world champion Pusarla Sindhu.
Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen testing themselves against Dunn/Pringle.
Ben Lane/Sean Vendy returning to action after Lane’s heel surgery, as they face Kim/Kim.
All this and much more awaits when day two of the World Championships kicks off at 9 AM Tuesday morning.
