The second tournament in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic qualifying period has started in Dubai. The Australian team which competed in Turkey last week have travelled across the Middle East to compete, joined by fellow teammate Luke Missen and New Zealand’s Corrie Keith Robinson.
Corrie partnered up with Australia’s Celine Vinot in the mixed doubles SL3 – SU5 group A and the pair were the opening games on day one, coming up against the first seeds from Indonesia, Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila. The pair went down 21-7 21-7 against the hot favourites, Leani making up half of the winning pair at last year’s Australia Para-Badminton International.
Corrie and Celine returned to the court later in the morning against Thailand’s Chawarat Kitichokwattana and Chanida Srinavakul for the last of their group stage matches, but the pair were unable to challenge for second place and went down 21-12 21-16 to miss out on a place in the main draw.
However, Corrie later redeemed himself in his men’s singles campaign in group G of the men’s singles SL 4 competition. The kiwi shuttler got off to a great start, winning against Brazil’s Rogerio Junior Xavier De Oliveria 21-13 22-20.
“It was good to get a win in the sports hall to get used to the playing conditions which sets me up nicely for my matches tomorrow.” – Corrie Keith Robinson
With two more matches in the group stages, including the 5/8 seed from Sweden – Rickard Nilsson – Corrie will be back in action on day two when he’ll also pair up with Frenchman Xavier Debavelaere in the men’s doubles SL3 – SL4 event.
Similarly, Australia’s Luke Missen opened day one with a win in the single’s short stature 6 – group B. Missen defeated Italian Bererdino La Chiatto 21-5 21-4 and has two more matches in the group stage to compete for a place in the main draw.
Australia’s Grant Manzoney had a tough draw on the first day of competition, with two out of the three matches being against top seeded players. In the mixed doubles WH1 – WH2 group C stage, Manzoney partnered up with Brazil’s Auricelia Nunes Evangelista Freitas and was up against the English/Austrian pairing of Gobi Ranganathan and Henriett Koosz, where the pair eventually went down 21-9 21-16.
Later in the morning, they faced the 3/4 seeds from China, Yang Tong and Li Hongyan – who won the game in two 21-1 21-9. They have one more match left to compete for the third and fourth positions in the group, but ultimately will miss out on a place in the main draw.
Manzoney had a tough start in the men’s singles WH2 group H after coming up against the 5/8 seed from Sweden, Thomas Puska. The Australian player went down 21-2 21-8 but has two more matches left in the group stages to fight for a place in the main draw.
Finally, Australia’s Caitlin Dransfield opened with one win and one loss in the mixed doubles SL3 – SU5 with Canadian partner, Pascal Lapointe. They went down in their first match against the German 5/8 seeds, Jan-Niklas Pott and Katrin Seibert 21-13 21-12 before recovering to overcome Brazil’s Leonardo Zuffo and Cintya Oliveira 21- 21-13 later in the morning.
On day two, Dransfield will also compete in the women’s singles SL4, group D before pairing up with compatriot, Céline Vinot in the women’s doubles SL3 – SU5 group C. The pair will be looking for a repeat of last week’s tournament in Turkey, where the pair made it through to the quarter-finals.
To find out more information about the Para-Badminton classifications, click here.
All of the results from the 2nd Fazza- Dubai Para-Badminton International 2019 are available to view on Tournament Software.
