Posted by Angela Stevens at 02:12 on 4 December 2018
Day 4- WINT 2018
Semi-Finals
In the men’s singles, first up was Alex Lane and eighth seed
Christian Kirchmayr. In another surprise win from Alex Lane after three sets,
Kirchamayr is knocked out 21-13, 20-22, 21-18. Following this, first seed Luis
Enrique Penalver took on Patrick Abildgaard and beat him in straight sets
21-14, 21-10. Will Alex Lane be able to match up to Penalver in the final after
knocking out fourth and eight seeds.
In the women’s singles, Gayle Mahulette took on Sara Penalva
Pereira, beating her in straight sets 21-11, 21-7. Welsh favourite Jordan Hart
then went up against Spanish Clara Azurmendi, unfortunately getting beaten
21-17, 21-10. This afternoon’s final will see a showdown between Mahulette and
Pereira.
Men’s doubles saw an all-English semi with Yap and Golding taking
on Flynn and Hemming, the latter winning in straight sets 21-12, 21-14 after a
faced-paced game. Semi-final two saw Danish Sondergaard and Stofferson beating
first seeds, Irish Magee and Reynolds, in straight sets 21-13, 21-17. The final
will no doubt be one to watch, with both pairings desperate for that win.
In the women’s doubles, English Holden and Tolman were
defeated by Danish Ekelund and Fleischer in two sets 21-16, 21-14. The other
semi was dominated by Scotland, with Macpherson and Newall beating their
compatriots in three exciting games 18-21, 21-16, 21-13.
Mixed doubles saw appearances from players in the men’s and women’s
events. Max Flynn, along with Swedish Moa Sjoo, took on his partner Callum
Hemming, who played with English Lizzie Tolman. Sjoo and Flynn go through to
the final after winning 21-10, 14-21, 21-10. The other semi-final was a tense
and emotional match, with Danish Ekelund and Stofferson knocked out by English
Clare and Williams 15-21, 21-9, 22-20.
Finals begin at 15:00 GMT on Saturday 1st
December and will no doubt be unmissable.
Finals
It was great to see a crowd gathering for finals day at the Victor Welsh International. The first final of the day started with XD seeing Max Flynn
(Eng) and Moa Sjoo (Swe) taking on the English pairing of Mathew Clare and
Victoria Williams. This was a clear win for the English pairing Clare and
Williams winning in straight sets 21-14, 21-8.
Second to get underway the women’s singles saw number 1 seed
Gayle Mahulette from the Netherlands take on number 7 seed Clara Azurmendi from
Spain. This game was bound for 3 sets with great play from both athletes.
Azurmendi taking the title in the end with a 12-21 21-6 21-12 win.
Next up was the men’s singles match between number 1 seed
Luís Enrique Peñalver(Spain) and Alex Lane (England). Another tight affair that
you would expect to go to three sets. After some intense rallies the Spanish
Penalver saw off Lane 21-19 22-20.
In the women’s doubles final the Danish pairing of Susan
Ekelund and Line Fleischer took on Scotlands Julie Macpherson and Holly Newall.
The first set went to the scots 22-10. They went on then to take the second set
21-12 to claim the title.
Finally we saw the men’s doubles to finish off the day and
bring a close to what was a great event held at Sport Wales National Centre in
Cardiff. This game saw the return of the 2 boys from England from the mixed
doubles but on the same team seeing Max Flynn and Callum Hemming pairing up to
take on the Danish Andreas Sondergaard and Mikkel Stoffersen. This was a
thrilling game with the first set going to the English 28-26. The Danish fought
hard through the match but couldn’t bring the game back leading to the English
pair of Hemming and Flynn winning 28-26 21-17.
A big thank you needs to go to our officials that attended the event, without these the tournament would not run!
Would like to thank everyone who came down to
watch, the officials and the players for a great tournament and look forward to
seeing you all next year!