The men’s doubles final was the best match of the day in Farum, where Denmark scooped three of the four remaining finals in this 6* IBF Grand Prix event.

Once again, two years after their first big win in this very event, Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paaske were crowned local kings.

Only one hour before the final against compatriots Sogaard and Laugesen, Martin Lundgaard Hansen didn’t know if he would be able to play . The previous day, the Dane had stretched his outside knee ligament in the most peculiar manner: “When we won against Hian and Limpele, I bent down on my knees to celebrate. And later in the evening, it started to hurt. I went to see the physio who gave me only a 30% chance to play.” explained the former singles player.

Yet Lundgaard Hansen was able to do more than just push the shuttle back. He was outstanding, while his partner Paaske played well on important points. After a win in the first game, Lundgaard Hansen and Paaske left the net to their opponents, who didn’t ask for that much. Well inside the court, the top seeds Sogaard and Laugesen made sure they kept putting pressure on the less experienced Paaske, who indeed missed a few shots.

“The key to the match was the net. Whoever could take the net would be the winner,” said Lundgaard. But it was their opponents who took over in the second and third games, leading 3/0 in the fourth. Paaske started playing well again, and the excitement helped him and his partner to get back and finally roll on until final victory 7/5, 3/7, 6/8, 7/3, 7/1.

A symbolic win for the pair who had teamed up only one month before their first major win, in the 1999 Danish “I guess this tournament is special for us, the atmosphere just lifts our game and we felt we could do it again,” added Lundgaard while putting ice on his knee.

Denmark’s ‘little mermaid’ gets her title back

Another 1999 Danishwinner was also crowned amidst the loud cheering and clapping: Camilla Martin could celebrate after another success on home soil. But this time, it was much easier than against the number one Chinese Zhou Mi the previous day. In the final, Martin was facing another young Chinese girl, Pi Hongyan, who could also count on some support from her teammates from Greve, a Cagen suburban club.

Moving very slowly on court, taking her time between points, Camilla Martin was not her usual self during the first points of the match. And she scared her public, who saw Pi take one point after the other to lead 6/0. But the Dane slowly got back on track, trying to shorten the rallies.

Securing an eighth straight point on a drop shot, Martin eventually won the first game, and took a real psychological advantage on her shy opponent. Pi also looked very tired and couldn’t reach as far as she would normally do to get the shuttles back on court. Martin understood that she should try to finish the points quickly.

With hardly any energy left, Pi was her own shadow and let go quite easily for an overall disappointing final. “I knew I had to play 100 % to have a chance to beat Camilla, but today I just couldn’t play well, I don’t know why,” said the 22-year-old Chinese, after she lost 6/8, 3/7, 0/7.

Bao takes advantage of Lin’s bad day

As sometimes happens, the final of the men’s singles between Bao Chunlai and Lin Dan didn’t keep its promises. Maybe due to Lin’s anxiety, unless it was because the two former juniors knew each other so well. There was a hint of resignation in Lin’s eyes each time he would commit an unforced error.

On the contrary, the 18-year-old Bao Chunlai (pictured) from Hunan province, with just 10 years of badminton behind him, seemed very relaxed. “There was no pressure for this game, I just played how I felt. There was no coaching as we were both from the same country,” said Bao. The young Chinese put his incredible progress in just one year - he had been crowned World Junior Champion less than one year ago – down to good quality training. “I just do what I’m told to do during practise sessions,”said the young man, simply.

In just over 30 minutes - about the same length of time Camilla Martin’s press conference took - Bao was on the top of the world, with a 7/5, 7/1, 7/0 victory. His world number 86 ranking from a couple of weeks ago will probably be a bad memory as soon as the IBF releases the new rankings next Thursday.

Kirkegaard and Olsen take over younger compatriots

The odds were against Mette Schjoldager and Ann-Lou Jorgensen when they went head to head with their elder compatriots Rikke Olsen and Helene Kirkegaard, who are well settled as the cream of Danish women’s doubles. In Germany, two weeks ago, Jorgensen and Schjoldager had learned humility. “ We knew exactly how they were going to play against us, so I was rather confident of victory,” said Kirkegaard. Indeed, as it took only 26 minutes to take it away.

The Dane felt a bit of frustration in this easy win on the overall tournament: “When we realised that the best Chinese and Korean women’s doubles weren’t coming, we were happy in a way because we’d have a better chance to win, but on the other hand, we couldn’t see if we had made any progress against the top pairs in the world,” said Kirkegaard.

And when it comes to commenting on the idea of holding only men’s events in the future of badminton (as suggested by compatriot Peter Gade earlier this week), the tall Dane reminds that badminton is a discipline which relies more on personalities, rather than just categories. “For instance, if there is no women’s singles in the Danish it’s ridiculous, because every one wants to see Camilla play. Besides, what if there is no women’s doubles anymore: all the young girls who want to play badminton wouldn’t have anyone to look up to, and then we’d lose a lot of popularity amongst youngsters,” added Kirkegaard.

Results :
Bao Chunlai (CHN) beat Lin Dan (CHN) : 7/5, 7/1, 7/0
Camilla Martin (DEN) beat Pi Hongyan (CHN) : 8/6, 7/3, 7/0
Paaske/Lundgaard (DEN) beat Sogaard/Laugesen (DEN) : 7/5, 3/7, 6/8, 7/3, 7/1
Kirkegaard/Olsen (DEN) beat Jorgensen/Schjoldager (DEN) : 7/2, 7/2, 7/3

report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat