Jan Jorgensen claimed his maiden Super Series title when he defeated Indonesia’s former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat in straight games as Denmark swept three of the five titles at stake at the Denmark Open Super Series in Odense.
Jorgensen’s 21-19, 21-19 victory also saw him move up to seventh in the Super Series Standings, and more importantly giving Denmark the possibility of seeing two representatives in the VICTOR BWF Super Series Finals.
The Finals, which offers a total prize money of USD500,000, is for the top eight ranked players/pairs based on the Super Series Standings. Each country is allowed a maximum of two players and pairs only.
“I have been dreaming about this since I was a little kid, so I am so proud and happy to be standing here now. And it feels amazing to win it here at my home event,” said Jorgensen towww.badmintondenmark.com
The win was all the sweeter as Peter Gade’s withdrawal from the tournament meant that the pressure was on Jorgensen to deliver the men’s singles title.
And Jorgensen rose to the occasion perfectly.
“Earlier, this year, when I was behind I had problems with my mental focus. But this tournament has been really good and it is the major factor why I won the title here at Denmark Open,” added the Dane.
For Taufik, the runner up spot moved him up from 15th to ninth in the Super Series Standings and the Indonesian will be looking for another good result in this week’s YONEX French Open to boost his chances of qualifying for the Finals.
After the French Open, there are two more Super Series tournaments – the LI NING China Open and YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open.
Denmark also won the men’s doubles title via Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen who beat Indonesia’s Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan 21-13, 21-12.
The Danes, who finished runner up last year, were in total control as they never allowed Markis-Hendra to settle down.
“It’s wonderful. We are delighted. Last year we were the runner-ups and today we stepped up and won so it is a fantastic feeling,” said Boe to www.badmintondenmark.com.
“We have gotten better and better during the tournament. We have had some close matches, but we have been quite cool in the end of each set,” added Mogensen.
Denmark’s first title came via the first final of the day in the mixed doubles when Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl beat England’s Nathan Robertson-Jenny Wallwork 21-12, 12-21, 21-9 to give the home fans plenty to cheer about.
In the women’s singles, China’s Wang Yihan beat compatriot Liu Xin 21-14, 21-12 while in the all-Japan women’s doubles final, top seeds Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna beat Shizuka Matsuo-Mami Naito 21-17, 21-14.
