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Pi Hongyan shines in the land of coal
October 10, 2001 - Source : IBF
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 Duisburg and the overall region may have been the capital of charcoal in the 19th century, yet Pi Hongyan enlightened the Rhein Rhur Halle with her golden talent in day 2 of the German
It was ladies' day today in Duisburg, as the participants in the singles event had to play two rounds. Pi Hongyan, the tiny Chinese was an impressive winner over her two opponents, Juliane Schenk and Aparna Popat. In no time, she showed the Chinese way of ruling the badminton world to the poor German and Indian players. Yet Pi isn't training in China any longer. Even if she was amongst the National second team back home, she decided to get away to get more exposure. "I knew that I had to leave China to play more tournaments, so I went to Denmark" explained the 22 year old from Chong Aing, a city near the Tibetan border. "Of course, it takes some time to adjust to the new way of living, but in Denmark, we have more freedom to decide how we want to practise and we learn how to take care of ourselves, not like in China, where everything is settled for you. It's a very good experience, both for badminton and for myself." adds the third seed in perfect English.
She trains at three different places: The International Badminton Academy - a place you are soon to discover with an inside report coming up - her Danish Elite division Club of Greve, and also regularly within the National Training Centre in Cagen, where she practises with Camilla Martin. "I think it's good for me to practise with such a high standard player, but in a way, it might be good also for Camilla to train with a Chinese player". Pi's recent results have shown that the practise was effective in Denmark as well, with a recent good run in the All England where she gave Camilla Martin a lot of trouble, and of course her Swisstitle a week later.
Even if her game looks as sharp as a razor, Pi still fears tall opponents, such as Marina Andrievskaya. "I think that tall girls can attack more, so the new scoring system should be better for them, but I don't mind, I play one match at a time and will try my best" explained the young Chinese player. But before playing the tall Russian born Swedish Andrievskaya, another tall player stands in the way: Brenda Beenhakker also looked quite confident after her win against Anne Marie Pedersen. The top of the draw seems to be the strongest, with Xu Huaiwen as the forth qualifier for the quarterfinal.
In the other half, Anu Weckstrom is to meet another Chinese, Zeng Yaqiong, while Elena Nozdran will play Katja Michalovski.
Joachim Fischer Nielsen (pictured) has had a good day as well. He beat fourth seed Indonesian born Swede George Rimarcdi in a very inspired manner and only three games. "I was a bit surprised as I expected him to play much better. My coach had told me to stay inside the court and keep control of the shuttle, and this tactic worked very well" said the 22 years old left hander. Fischer Nielsen had been away from the international circuit since the All England: "I had a small injury to my arm, but most of all, I wanted to practise hard to prepare for these European events. I have also decided to focus on the men's singles rather than the doubles" added the tall and thin Dane, whose best results were so far in the latter category: a quarter final in the Danishand a semi-final, here in Duisburg last year.
He is to meet Poland's Wacha in today's quarter final, while the other quarter in this part of the draw will feature a match between Jonassen and Pontgratz. The number one German player had a thrill against club team mate Mark Constable, while trailing 1/4 in the deciding game. But with the help of the crowd and an aggressive game, Pontgratz overcame the score disadvantage. On a second match point - given by a serve in the net by Constable, the German finished it up, while his opponent threw his racket with despair, for a final 4/7 - 7/1 - 5/7 - 7/4 - 7/5. Pontgratz and Jonassen met only a few weeks ago, in the USsemi final, when the Dane had won in three hard fought games.
In the lower part of the draw, Jens Roch's good run in the tournament was put to an end by Kasper Oedum from Denmark. The tall Dane had a scare in the beginning of the third game while leading 2 games to love, when he hurt in his knee. The German then smartly moved his opponent along the court, and placed some quick attacks to win the third 7/0 and lead 4/1 in the fourth. Yet Oedum was back on track thanks to his compatriot's heers and his physio's magic touch (pictured): he was able to get back even and win the fourth game. He is to meet Sweden's Rasmus Wengberg, who beat Yong Yudianto, an Indonesian born playing in Germany, ranked 142 in the world, in five games. Last quarter final features last year's winner, Vladislav Druzchenko against Danish Niels Christian Kaldau.
In the men's doubles event, the German pairs had a good day, with three teams remaining in the last eight. Siegemund had the play of the day when he caught a smash on his back while looking away from the shuttle as his partnership with Joachim Tesche seemed efficient enough to outplay England's Jeffrey and Palethorpe in just three games. Michael Keck and Michael Helber cruised on to another victory after yesterday's upset against 5/8th seed Canadians: they beat Monteiro and Gunawi. Yet both Danish pairs, Sogaard/Laugesen and Lamp/Rasmussen looked really impressive, not staying much time on court for two easy victories.
It might also become an all Danish/German fight in the ladies doubles, with the top four pairs from Denmark, advancing to the quarter finals, while Nicol Pitro and Nicole Grether beat another Danish pair, Bramsen/Houman in four games, after Bramsen injured her right leg. But in spite of Emms/Kellogg's loss to number two seeds Schjoldager/Jorgensen, two other English pairs will be looking forward to beat the odds in the first half of the draw.
In the mixed doubles, Elena Nozdran and Vladislav Druzchenko can now focus on their singles matches, as they were beaten by first seed Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen, in a very pleasant match to watch, with inspired deception shots on either side, an unusual type of play for mixed doubles. But the best operation of the day was for Maja Pohar (pictured) and her brother who came through without playing their match against seeded Jane Bramsen and Jonas Rasmussen. Bramsen's injury led her to withdraw from the event, as she limped her way back to the Hotel. The Pohar family will meet Siegemund/Pitro in the quarterfinal. Second seeds Bergstrom/Karlsson were the big casualty of the day, after a thrilling and last match against Matthias Boe and Maijken Vange. The Swedes led 5/0 in the last game then had a match point against them at 5/6, but they were lucky enough that Vange missed an easy shot. Then it was their turn to get a match point at 7/6, but this time Jenny Karlsson couldn''t take the pressure and missed the easy killer at the net. Finally, the Danes took it away on their third match point, winning 8/7 in the decider.
Michael Lamp and Ann Lou Jorgensen also had a thrill against Donna Kellogg and Ian Sullivan : The 3/4th seeded pair from Denmark had to go to overtime in the fifth and final game to make their way to the quarter final. They will be hoping for a smoother ride against locals Piotrowsky and Hopp.
report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat
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