With more quarter final spots up for grabs, day two at the VICTOR Oceania Open Individual Championships 2019 lived up to all expectations. The players delivered on court with plenty of fast-paced action, suspense and surprise exits by some of the top seeded players.
The mixed doubles got off to an adrenaline-fuelled start as two of the top four seeds exit the competition. Australia’s Toby Wong and Louisa Ma defeated the fourth seeds from Fiji, Admad Ali and Andra Whitesdie 21-17 21-19.
“This is the first time we’ve ever played together but we kept it simple and consistent and managed to take the win against the fourth seeds.” – Toby Wong and Louisa Ma, Australia.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Jacob Schueler and Jodee Vega put up an epic display of badminton on the live-stream court against the second seeds from New Zealand 14-21 21-18 22-20.
“I have played here as a junior before, but this is my first year playing in the open event. It’s also my first time playing mixed with Jacob at this level therefore it was a great feeling to beat the second seeds from New Zealand. I think we managed to hold on to the attack really well throughout the game and we held our nerves throughout.” – Jodee Vega, Australia
More open athletes have been embracing the opportunity to take part in their first Oceania Championships on day two. For many of those athletes, it’s a great opportunity to practice before the Samoa 2019 Pacific Games takes place in July. For others, it’s a dream come true to take part in these regional championships:
“I’ve been playing badminton since I was six and this is my first time representing Fiji. I’ve had many injuries along the way but I love playing in these events. I’m excited to play in the mixed team event and hope to come back next year.” – Ashley Yee, Fiji.
“I felt a lot more comfortable playing today as the nerves have settled and I was more positive. We will now spend the next two days preparing and training for the mixed team event as we know the standard is really high.“ – Andra Whiteside, Fiji
As play continued well into the evening, one of the biggest crowd-drawers of the evening came in the men’s doubles. The four-time reigning men’s doubles champion, Sawan Serasinghe, and his new partner, Eric Vuong, took on the third seeds from New Zealand, Abhinav Manota and Oliver Leydon-Davis. Both pairs fought it out until the end over three gruelling games. With diving, lightning-fast reactions and spectacular smashes, the Australian duo won the match 14-21 21-13 21-19 in 55 minutes.
“We knew that was going to be an extremely tough match so we’re really happy with the result. We know it will be just as tough for the rest of the tournament, so we’re just taking it one game at a time.“ Eric Vuong, Australia
All the results from day two at the VICTOR Oceania Open Individual Championships 2019 are available on Tournament Software.
The draw for day three, quarter finals and semi finals, is also available to view on Tournament Software.
