Badminton Europe Circuit Finals 2008 June 7 & 8 Rackethal, Assen "Netherlands" $50.000 End of season invitational tournament between the best four MS and WS players and the top 2 finishers in the 2007-2008 Badminton Europe Circuit. Pretty big prize money: singles losers already get $1750 , losing doubles pair $3000. Winners get $5000! http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=21931 Some news: http://www.badmintoneurope.com/news_item.aspx?id=12841 http://www.badzine.info/content/view/1089/ MS Marc Zwiebler Petr Koukal Ville Lang Erwin Kehlhoffner WS Elizabeth Cann Juliane Schenk Kati Tolmoff Olga Konon MD Wouter Claes / Frédéric Mawet Kristof Hopp / Ingo Kindervater WD Anastasia Russkikh / Ekaterina Ananina Valeria Sorokina / Nina Vislova XD Nina Vislova / Alexander Nikolaenko Nathalie Descamps / Wouter Claes http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=21931
Results June 7th Men's Singles - MS - Semi Final Ville Lang - Petr Koukal 19-21 21-7 21-19 [0:53] Marc Zwiebler - Erwin Kehlhoffner 21-14 21-13 [0:26] Women's Singles - WS - Semi Final Kati Tolmoff - Elizabeth Cann 21-11 21-10 [0:22] Juliane Schenk - Olga Konon 21-12 21-13 [0:28] Women's Doubles - WD - Final Ekaterina Ananina / Anastasia Russkikh - Valeria Sorokina / Nina Vislova 19-21 21-13 21-15 [0:53] http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=21931&y=2008&m=6&d=7
Results June 8th Mixed Doubles - XD - Final Alexander Nikolaenko / Nina Vislova - Wouter Claes / Nathalie Descamps 21-7 21-19 [0:01] Women's Singles - WS - Final Juliane Schenk - Kati Tolmoff 21-16 21-14 [0:28] Men's Singles - MS - Final Marc Zwiebler - Ville Lang 21-14 19-21 21-19 [0:58] Men's Doubles - MD - Final Kristof Hopp / Ingo Kindervater - Wouter Claes / Frederic Mawet 16-21 21-14 21-16 [0:47] http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=21931&y=2008&m=6&d=8
Zwiebler, Lang, Tolmoff and Schenk are in the singles finals 07 June 2008 Germany’s Marc Zwiebler will play Ville Lang from Finland in the men’s singles final at the Badminton Europe Circuit Finals in Assen, the Netherlands. Marc Zwiebler had no problems in defeating the Frenchman Erwin Kehlhoffner, while Ville Lang struggled against Petr Koukal from the Czech Republic in his semi final. Kati Tolmoff from Estonia and Juliane Schenk from Germany are in the women’s final. The men’s singles final at the Circuit Finals will be a clash between Ville Lang from Finland and Marc Zwiebler from Germany. Ville Lang had to work hard in the warm Rackethal of Assen for almost an hour before Petr Koukal was defeated. 19/21 21/7 21/19 the match ended. Marc Zwiebler had it a little bit easier as he only needed two sets to defeat his French opponent, Erwin Kehlhoffner – 21/14 21/13 it ended in favour of the German left hander. Kati Tolmoff and Juliane Schenk were both outstanding in their respective semi finals in the women’s single. The Estonian shuttler made an impressive performance when she beat Elizabeth Cann from England in a very one sided match, only lasting 22 minutes. 21/11 21/10 the match ended. Juliane Schenk was almost just as persuasive when she beat the young Olga Konon from Belarus. The German won the match 21/12 21/13 in a match lasting 28 minutes. The two finals will be played tomorrow, Sunday, together with the finals in the mixed doubles and the men’s doubles events. http://www.eurobadminton.org/news_item.aspx?id=12913
Two for Russia – three for Germany (photo badmintonnfo) 08 June 2008 Russia and Germany were the big winners at the Badminton Europe Circuit Finals which was played on 7-8 June in the Dutch city of Assen as Russia won two events while Germany won three. The two favourites in the singles events, Juliane Schenk and Marc Zwiebler won as expected, however not without working hard for it. Marc Zwiebler had to work for nearly an hour before Ville Lang from Finland had to resignate. Marc Zwiebler and Ville Lang gave the Dutch audience a really good experience when they met in the men’s singles final at the Circuit Finals. None of the players wanted to give anything away, so the crowd really got a tough fight to see. Zwiebler won the first set relatively fast 21/14, but despite of being up 17/12 in the second, Ville Lang managed to get back into the game by playing some really long rallies which sucked the power out of Zwiebler. Lang won the second set 21/19. At this point Lang looked to be the winner, but Zwiebler came out to the third set with new energy taking the lead 7-0. Lang then did the same thing as in the second set – started to play long, exhausting rallies and thereby slowly getting back into the set. Both players were extremely exhausted in the end, but it was Zwiebler who managed to take the decisive two points difference, 21/19 it ended. The two finalist could afterwards received their well earned price money, 5.000$ to Zwiebler and 3.000$ to Lang. Marc Zwiebler’s compatriot Juliane Schenk was the big favourite in the final of the women’s singles. Here she was up against Kati Tolmoff from Estonia who had made an impressive performance in her semi final, beating the strong Englishman Elizabeth Cann in straight sets. Kati Tolmoff started out really well by taking the lead after some good drop shots which Juliane Schenk had difficulties in reaching. However the heat in the hall started to get to Tolmoff when the match was getting longer, and in the end it was Schenk who could take the opening set, winning it 21/16. The second set was almost the same story. Tolmoff started out well, but then Schenk started to get more control during the set. After 28 minutes of play it was all over – Schenk could receive her well deserved check after winning the second set 21/14. The women’s doubles final was an all Russian encounter when Anastasia Russkikh and Ekaterina Ananina took on Nina Vislova and Valeria Sorokina. Vislova and Sorokina started out the best by winning a close first set 21/19. Ananina and Russkikh then took over – started to put more pressure on especially Vislova. In both the second and the third set they played towards Vislova’s back hand which gave them the opportunity of getting in control of the front court. Both sets were won relatively safe – 21/13 and 21/15 they ended. The winning pair was given a check of 6.000$ while the losing finalist got half the amount. Nina Vislova was also part of the mixed doubles final where she together with Alexander Nikolaenko took on Nathalie Descamps and Wouter Claes from Belgium. The first set was completely dominated by Vislova’s left hand at the net, and the Belgian pair was never allowed to get into that set – 21/7 it ended in favour of the Russians. Wouter Claes started to get more into the game in the beginning of the second set, which meant that Descamps and Claes could take an early lead. However Nikolaenko and Vislova proved once again that they were the strongest of the two pairs by coming back and winning the set 21/19 and thereby the match. Badminton Europe’s President Tom Bacher and the President of the Dutch Badminton Association Jos Nouwt could here after present the players with their awards. Wouter Claes was not done playing, as he was also part in the men’s doubles final. Together with Frederic Mawet he was to play the German favourites Ingo Kindervater and Kristof Hopp. The Belgians started out the best and won a quite one sided first set 21/16 never really allowing the Germans to get control. Here after the Germans started to take over. The tall Kindervater began to put more pressure from the back court, making it easier for Kristof Hopp to control the match from the net. 21/14 the set ended in favour of the German pair, and a third set thereby had to be played. Kindervater and Hopp were all over the court in the beginning of the third set, which gave them an early lead. Claes and Mawet struggled against the strong Germans, and they never got into the game again. Ingo Kindervater and Kristof Hopp had to use five match points before the victory was theirs, but afterall it was a safe 21/16 win in the decisive set. http://www.eurobadminton.org/news_item.aspx?id=12932
