Day three of competition saw some fierce competition across the Open and Junior disciplines as the quarter finals got underway.
Remi Rossi is flying the flag high for Tahiti after securing his place in the Open men’s singles semi finals. He is the only player left in any of the Open disciplines who resides outside of Australia or New Zealand and will be looking to be the first player outside of those two countries to ever take home a gold medal from this event. Rossi finished runner-up in 2018 where he lost to New Zealander, Abhinav Manota, in the final. The pair will now compete against each other in this evening’s semi final – meaning there is guaranteed to be a different men’s single final in 2019.
“I am happy with my results so far and I hope I will win, of course. I will give all my best to win this next match.” – Rémi Rossi, Tahiti.
Australia’s up and coming junior player, Angela Yu, sealed her place in the semi final with a comfortable win against New Zealander, Jenny Zhu 21-13 21-13. The youngster has grown up surrounded by badminton, with parents who have both celebrated huge success on the international stage. Ricky Yu and Rosy Tang emigrated to Australia in 2003 after meeting while playing in the Chinese national team.
“I just went for it in my match today. It was my plan to keep using a short serve to help my attacking style. I would love to earn a place in the finals later today!” – Angela Yu, Australia.
Elsewhere in the Open and Junior women’s singles events, both first-seeded players have secured their spot in the semi finals this evening. In the Open competition, Olympian Wendy Chen has won the event for the last four years and is looking to take home her fifth consecutive title after defeating Claudia Lam 21-11 21-16 in the quarter finals:
“After recovering from an injury, I am just happy to be playing here. My priority is to enjoy the game and I am just taking it one match at a time.“ – Wendy Chen, Australia
Meanwhile in the Junior event, first seed Shaunna Li from New Zealand won comfortably against compatriot and fifth seed Catelyn Rozario 21-9 21-11:
“I felt nervous to start with and I try not to think about the pressures of being the first seed. I am staying positive and feeling ready for every point. I now plan to get some rest, followed by some food to fuel up for the semi finals this evening.” – Shaunna Li, New Zealand
In the Open mixed doubles, Australia’s Gronya Somerville is on track to take home her first mixed title this year after winning a nail-biting match with her partner, Simon Wing Hang Leung. The first seeds defeated the seventh seeds from New Zealand, Oliver Leydon-Davis and Anona Pak 21-15 23-25 24-22.
“We’re really happy to have won that match. We were patient and made sure we stuck to our game plan which ultimately worked in our favour.” – Gronya Somerville, Australia.
Meanwhile, the sixth-seeds from Australia, Sawan Serasinghe and Lee Yen Khoo battled over thirty-five minutes to conjure up a win over compatriots Jacob Schueler and Jodee Vega 21-18 25-23:
“It was a tough game but I am happy with the result. We took our time towards the end and I need to take the same focus into the next match” – Lee Yen Khoo, Australia
However, Schueler has managed to secure a spot in the Open men’s double semi finals alongside his partner, Felix Wang. The pair won against New Zealand’s Jonathan Curtin and Dylan Soedjasa 21-18 21-14.
“We were consistently challenging them at the net which worked in our advantage. I’m not usually a doubles player so I’m very happy with this result!“ – Jacob Schueler, Australia
All of the results from the quarter finals on day three at the VICTOR Oceania Individual Championships 2019 are available on the following links:
VICTOR Oceania Open Individual Championships 2019 – Quarter final results
VICTOR Oceania Junior Individual Championships 2019 – Quarter final results
You can view the schedule for this evenings semi finals below:
Don’t forget, you can watch all the action live from your living room via our free live-streaming service OVO. Click here to watch.
