2016 Belgium Open
Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN of India inflicted the pain in the hart of the host nation’s supporters by beating Cedric NUYTINCK at the final hurdle in the Men’s Singles Event at the 2016 Belgium Open in De Haan. Seeded no. 25 succeeded to the gold in straight matches (13-15 6-11 2-11 15-17) against the player who occupies seeded position no. 15.
At the penultimate stage NUYTINCK beat Germany’s Benedikt DUDA in thrilling seven games match (11-7 1-11 11-13 12-10 11-8 11-13 12-10); GNANASEKARAN overcame Swede Harald ANDERSSON in another full distance thriller (10-12 11-8 1-11 11-4 8-11 11-9 6-11).
Georgina POTA of Hungary no four seed beat no. three seed Yui HAMAMOTO of Japan (11-9 12-14 11-9 11-7 11-9). Previously POTA beat Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS in five games (7-11 10-12 8-11 11-6 3-11). It was bad round for Romania’s player. Elizabeta SAMARA no. two seed also suffered five games defeat (11-3 12-10 7-11 12-10 12-10).
Russia‘s Mikhail PAIKOV and Alexey LIVENTSOV won the Men’s Doubles title. The Russian pairing have looked in unbeatable form in De Haan and came through the event without dropping a game across their four matches. Their opponents in the final Adam SZUDI and Tamas LAKATOS suffered in straight games (11-4 11-7 11-8). In semi final Russia’s duo overcame Germany’s Benedikt DUDA and Dennis KLEIN whilst SZUDI and LAKATOS beat Viktor BRODD and Anthony TRAN of Sweden (11-8 5-11 11-9 7-11 11-8).
Georgina POTA and Yulia PROKHOROVA clinched the top prize in Women’s Doubles Event. They overcame Japan’s Marina MATSUZAWA and Mariko TAKAHASHI (9-11 11-8 11-9 5-11 5-11). At the penultimate stage POTA and PROKHOROVA overcame Swiss Slovenian combination of Alex GALIC and Rachel MORET.
In the U 21 Event LIAO Cheng Ting of Taipei beat Florent LAMBIET of belgium in the final whilst Japan’s Kyoka KATO overcame Bernadette SZOCS.
