Five finals in New Delhi to decide BWF World Championship titles
Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue led Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 11-9 at the first interval as five finals were set to decide champions on the final day of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi. There will be no Indian shuttlers competing on the closing day in the Indian capital.
The schedule opens with the mixed doubles final between top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping of China and the fifth-seeded French pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, who have reached their first World Championships final. The Chinese partnership start on paper as favourites, while France secured two places in Sunday’s finals, underlining an unusually strong day for the French team in New Delhi.
Gicquel and Delrue reached the final after a comeback semifinal win over second seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin, prevailing 19-21, 21-13, 21-11. After dropping the opening game they tightened their defence and increased aggression, levelled the match in the second and then opened the deciding game with a 12-0 run; the Chinese pair mounted a late fightback but the French pair held their lead to complete the upset.
Alex Lanier progressed to the men’s singles final by beating Canada’s seventh seed Victor Lai 16-21, 21-13, 21-14 in an 85-minute semifinal. Lanier surrendered the first game before rallying to take the next two and with his victory France will have two players competing for world titles on the final day.
India secured a women's doubles bronze as the 39th-ranked pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand pushed world No.1 Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning before losing in three games. Treesa and Gayatri had eliminated three seeded pairs to reach the semifinals, and their medal ended a 15-year wait for an Indian women's doubles World Championships podium since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in 2011.
Defending champion Akane Yamaguchi reached the women's singles final with a 21-12, 21-17 victory over Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong, keeping her bid for a fourth world singles title alive. Tomoka Miyazaki, whose campaign ended before the final stages, is the 20-year-old ranked ninth in the world; she said: "I want to consistently produce good results, and if I reach the quarter-finals, I can face a top-ranked player in the world. I want to keep winning and make sure I get to that stage so I can compete against those players." Yamaguchi, who trains alongside Miyazaki, believes her development will benefit from learning through different experiences on court, and Miyazaki added: "It's really nice to have so many people supporting me even in other countries."
The five finals in New Delhi will determine the world champions, beginning with the mixed doubles match between Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping and Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue on the final day of the BWF World Championships.