Five European women’s doubles pairs made the Round of 16 at the BWF World Junior Championships 2022.
England’s Lisa Curtin and Estelle Van Leeuwen scored an impressive win over China’s Luo Yi/Wang Yi Duo after a tense third game in which their early lead nearly evaporated.
Europe had further good news, with Germany’s Julia Meyer/Cara Siebrecht edging Singapore’s Chia Xin Ying/Xiao En Heng 21-19 18-21 21-19.
Julia Meyer (right) and Cara Siebrecht.
With the Chinese steadily gaining on them in the third game, Curtin and Van Leeuwen kept the shuttle deep to frustrate their opponents’ attack, eventually coming through 21-18 15-21 21-16.
Other European women’s doubles pairs to progress into the Round of 16 were France’s Emilie Drouin/Tea Margueritte and Malya Hoareau/Camille Pognante, and Denmark’s Marie Hojlund Tommerup/Kathrine Vang.
“We lost to them in the team event, so it’s nice to turn that around and get our revenge, and one step further in the competition,” said Van Leeuwen.
“We told each to other we’d pull through. We know we can rally long, they were getting tired, so we just had to keep it going.
“It shows we can compete with them. It’s well known that the Asians are better than the Europeans at badminton generally, and they have a lot of top players. So this shows we can compete with them and we’re getting closer and it’s great for the confidence.”
Men’s doubles too saw four European pairs progress into the Round of 16, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Koluzaiev/Nikita Yeromenko and local pair Daniel Franco/Ruben Garcia. The two pairs face off for a place in the quarterfinals.
Highlights
♦ Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul continued to impress, winning a tough three-game battle over Indonesia’s Prahdiska Bagas Shujiwo. The Thai next takes on Malaysia’s Eogene Ewe.
♦ In women’s singles, China’s Zhang Xin Ran dismissed top seed Anupama Upadhyaya of India 21-15 21-10. Two other Chinese – Sun Zi Chun and Yuan An Qi – joined her in the Round of 16.
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