International Events | 15 Mar 2021
BERGSTRÖM, MIKHAILOVA, EERLAND and YANG booked their places in Tokyo
Four places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are booked after second day of play at the World Singles Qualification Tournament in Doha. Swedish no.17 seed Linda BERGSTRÖM, Russia’s star Polina MIKHAILOVA, Netherland’s Britt EERLAND and Monaco’s YANG Xiaoxin will leave Qatar with the tickets for Tokyo in their pockets.
BERGSTRÖM successfully claimed her ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with a great 4-1 win over second seed from Ukraine, Margaryta PESOTSKA (11-7, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9).
“I have no words, it was unbelievable, hard to describe. I had decided before all of my matches that I should just go in and be offensive and I think I did just that. There were so many strong players in the previous rounds who will continue in the next one, so I felt it was important that, now that I had the chance to take this spot, that I took it, “said BERGSTRÖM.
Polina MIKHAILOVA also created an upset but on lower magnitude; the no. 5 seed from Russia proving too strong for Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut, no.3 seed (11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8).
“I’m just so happy right now and still cannot believe this has happened. It is a very difficult tournament and I am just very happy to have qualified,” said MIKHAILOVA.
Top seed Britt EERLAND overcame Spanish no.16 seed Galia DVORAK (11-5, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7), whilst Monaco’s YANG Xiaoxin, no.4 seed beat Spain’s Maria XIAO (14-12, 8-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10).
The names of the finalists of the Men’s Singles Event at the World Singles Qualification Tournament in Doha are known and the outcome of the semifinals did not come free from the upsets.
Liam PITCHFORD of England suffered by the hands of Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic (6:11, 11:2, 11:13, 11:9, 7:11, 10:12).
“It was up and down from the beginning. I was thinking that the match is going to be like this, and it was exactly as I thought. I’m very happy I won. In the end I was lucky with the last point, and I believe I needed this point. And for the next match - anything is possible,” said JANCARIK.
In the final tomorrow, JANCARIK will meet KOU Lei of Ukraine. In very close encounter KOU beat Niagol STOYANOV of Italy in penultimate stage (11:6, 11:8, 14:16, 11:3, 12:10).
After win over Paul DRINKHALL, Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia lost his semifinal match against Florent LAMBIET of Belgium (10:12, 7:11, 11:8, 3:11, 11:5, 11:9, 9:11).
In the morning hours Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania withstood spiritual recovery from Daniel HABESOHN of Austria to win quarterfinal match in seven games, but on his second exit o the table he failed to repeat the success. In another seven games thriller he lost to Bence MAJAROS of Hungary (8:11, 11:5, 11:7, 11:4, 9:11, 9:11, 7:11).
In third group finalists are Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece and WANG Yang of Slovakia. GIONIS beat Kirill SKACHKOV of Russia (11:6, 6:11, 9:11, 20:18, 7:11, 11:5, 8:11);WANG proved too strong for Adam SZUDI of Hungary (7:11, 7:11, 11:7, 11:8, 8:L11, 7:11).
Despite the defeat all the semifinalists will play in the second phase of the tournament for one remaining place for Tokyo.
