LGP Day 2 report
OK, so to day 2 of the London Grand Prix, and now we have 5 courts:
Carolina Marin (ESP) gets a warm up from Lene Clausen (DEN), and comes through 21 – 15, 21 – 13 with a few of her characteristic shouts:
Joachim Perrson couldn’t recreate the ease of yesterday, and after trailing 11- 2 in the first game, left himself too much to do against Yuxian Huang (CHN) and went down 26- 24 in the second:
Henri Hurskainen (SWE) played an intelligent match against a too laid back Nan Wei (HKG):
while earlier, Scott Evans (IRL) had a good victory against Yan Kit Chan (HKG) and Rajiv Ouseph enjoyed a popular win over Vitaly Konov (UKR) and will meet Hsu Jiu Ting (TPE) tomorrow.
The concourse has an Adidas concession and racket stringers:
Back on court we saw Michelle Chan Ky (NZ):
whilst the prize for the most elegant court attire goes to Sashina Vignes Waran (FRA):
Undoubtedly the story of the day was, however, Wang Xin who struggled against Lena Kjaesfeldt (DEN), allowing Lena two match points in the second game, before coming back and then winning the third relatively easily:

Denmark’s investment in Lena is clearly now paying off, and it is certainly now possible to see a successor to Tine.
And now for a sight rarely seen in International Badminton – a ladies singles match between two English players:
On this occasion the valliant Sarah Milne was the victor against Chloe Birch, but credit is due to all concerned in supporting both players, as well as Panuga Riou who lost out to Kristina Gavnholt (CZE).
Victor Axelsen was in fine form against Brice Leverdez (FRA):
winning 21 – 16, 21 – 15, whilst Sayaka Sato continued her comeback with a nice two game victory over Porntip:
Somebody commented on the lighting – here it is:
didn’t notice amy players looking up at it accusingly. This venue is to be a community sports venue, and badminton clubs in the area should certainly look to establish themselves here. There was a good crowd in for a Wednesday, and the event feels like it will be a success.
Till tomorrow,
smautf