Perhaps the hottest spot for badminton in Europe is Denmark and many of the leading stars of the sport came to Odense for the 67th Danisa Denmark Open, but it was a showcase for Asian stars in 2018.
Perhaps the biggest star right now is Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Ying Tai, who won her first Denmark Open, but scored her sixth individual win of the year on the BWF World Tour. She passed the $1 million mark in career earnings with a home win in the Chinese Taipei Open earlier in the month, but has now also won the Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open and All England Open in addition to Denmark.
While Tai was strengthening her grip on the no. 1 world ranking, Japan’s Kento Momota was doing the same in the men’s final, with a 22-20, 16-21, 21-15 win over Tien Chen Chou (TPE). And all three Doubles winners are also the no. 1-ranked teams in the BWF World Rankings: Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) in men’s Doubles, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in women’s Doubles and China’s Siwei Zheng and Yaqiong Huang in Mixed Doubles. All won in straight sets.
Momota became the first Japanese winner in the men’s Singles in this tournament since 1970 and Tai is the first-ever winner from Chinese Taipei. That’s especially impressive since the Denmark Open dates all the way back to 1935! Summaries:
BWF World Tour/Danisa Denmark Open
Odense (DEN) ~ 16-21 October 2018
(Full results here)
Men’s Singles: 1. Kento Momota (JPN); 2. Tien Chen Chou (TPE); 3. Srikanth Kidambi (IND) and Anders Antonsen (DEN). Semis: Momota d. Kidambi, 21-16, 21-12; Chour d. Antonsen, 19-21, 21-11, 21-12. Final: Momota d. Chou, 22-20, 16-21, 21-15.
Men’s Doubles: 1. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA); 2. Takeshi Kamura/Seigo Sonoda (JPN); 3. Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (INA) and Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge (ENG). Semis: Gideon/Sukamuljo d. Ahsan/Setiawan, 21-18, 24-22; Kamura/Setiawan d. Ellis/Langridge, 21-17, 21-19. Final: Gideon/Sukamuljo d. Kamura/Sonoda, 21-15, 21-16.
Women’s Singles: 1. Tzu Ying Tai (TPE); 2. Saina Nehwal (IND); 3. Bingjiao He (CHN) and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA). Semis: Tai d. He, 21-14, 21-12; Nehwal d. Tunjung, 21-11, 21-12. Final: Tai d. Nehwal, 21-13, 13-21, 21-6.
Women’s Doubles: 1. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN); 2. Shihoi Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto (JPN); 3. Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu (INA) and Hye-Jeong Kim/Hee-Yong Kong (KOR). Semis: Fukushima/Hirota d. Polii/Hirota, 21-13, 21-16; Tanaka/Yonemoto d. Kim/Kong, 21-12, 21-14. Final: Fukushima/Hirota d/ Tanaka/Tonemoto, 21-19, 21-16.
Mixed Doubles: 1. Siwei Zheng/Yaqiong Huang (CHN); 2. Dechapol Puavaranujkroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA); 3. Seung-Jae Seo/YuJung Chae (KOR) and Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (INA). Semis: Puavaranujkroh/Taerattanachai d. Seo/Chae, 21-16, 17-21, 21-16; Zheng/Huang d. Ahmad/Natsir, 21-11, 19-21, 21-17. Final: Zheng/Huang d. Puavaranujkroh/Taerattanachai, 21-16, 21-13.
