Spanish badminton continues to compete in top-level tournaments, as evidenced by the quadruple national representation at the Orleans Masters 2022, a Super 100 category tournament on the BWF World Tour circuit. Pablo Abián, Kike Peñalver, Clara Azurmendi and Bea Corrales have been in charge of putting the Spanish accent in said French town.
Once the first official training session was completed, in which the Spaniards worked together with the Indian representatives, Pablo Abián and Kike Peñalver were the first to enter the competition. The four-time Olympian signed a brilliant debut, defeating the Ukrainian Danilo Bosniuk in two sets (21-16 and 21-15). That same day Kike Peñalver made his debut, who also managed to advance to the second round due to the withdrawal of Frenchman Lucas Claerbout when the Spaniard won 12-5 in the first set.
???? Check Pablo Abián’s debut statistics.
???? Check Kike Peñalver’s debut statistics.
Already in the second round, Abián stood up to another Olympian such as the Brazilian Ygor Coelho, but finally the South American was more successful in the key moments and won the match 21-18 and 21-15. The same fate befell Peñalver, who put Singaporean Jia Heng Jason Teh on the ropes, since he was close to winning the first set (22-24) and, after winning the second (21-18), he was unable to complete his comeback in the third (21-11).
???? Check the statistics of Pablo Abián’s second round match.
???? Check the statistics of Kike Peñalver’s second round match.
Luck didn’t smile on Clara Azurmendi and Bea Corrales either. The woman from San Sebastian faced a tough debut against the tournament’s third seed, Line Kjaersfeldt. In the first set Azurmendi put the Danish against the ropes, but she ended up losing 19-21 and could not come back in the second set (21-16). Beatriz Corrales, who was facing the Australian Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen, also failed to advance. The Madrilenian jumped onto the court ready to fight every midfielder and she did, although it wasn’t enough and she ended up losing 21-14 and 21-15.
???? Check Clara Azurmendi’s debut statistics.
???? Check Bea Ccorrales’s debut statistics.
After the Spanish participation in the individual draws, this Thursday it is the turn of the women’s doubles of Azurmendi and Corrales. The tandem formed by the Guipuzcoan and the Madrilenian has advanced two rounds without playingand will fight to get into the quarterfinals against the Hong Kong duo of NG Tsz Yau and Tsang Hiu Yan.
