BADMINTON. The unprecedented Saint-Denis Réunion Open ends today at the Champ-Fleuri gymnasium, with the finals starting at 10 a.m. Matches with a Japanese accent with two 100% Japanese posters in singles between Riku Hatano and Yushi Tanaka for men, and Riko Gunchi and Natsuki Oie for women. Japan also dominates the tables in men’s doubles (Mezaki/Nishida VS Inoué/Mitsuhashi) and mixed doubles (Yamada/Ikeuchi VS Nihei/Asakura). Only the women’s doubles will offer the Indian sisters Panda against a German pair Jaeger / Michals. Note that the tandem Thibaud Cougouille / Loïc Nanicaoudin, the last Reunionese representatives in the running, stopped in the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles yesterday, ahead of Bjarne Geiss and Daniel Hess (21-11, 21-4). The Reunionese league and its many volunteers will have achieved a feat, that of making Reunion the center of international badminton in the Indian Ocean.
