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Indonesia Open: Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue create French badminton history; An Seyoung scripts stunning comeback
The iconic Istora Senayan threw up some sensational storylines and matchups on Sunday as the Indonesia Open – the year's third Major badminton tournament – came to an end in Jakarta. An Seyoung and Kim Wonho-Seo Seungjae kept the Korean juggernaut rolling at the Super 1000 events, completing their respective hat-tricks in women's singles and men's doubles to stay on course for an incredible calendar Slam. Anders Antonsen completed an emotional win to finally win a tournament where he had first entered the final in 2019, beating the same opponent he had lost to that day. China's only title on the day came in women's doubles as Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning established themselves as the best in the world.
But the headlines should belong to France's Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, the first-ever from France to win the Indonesia Open title, beating Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran in the mixed doubles final. The 21-16, 21-18 win in 48 minutes was special in itself because the Thai pair have been in terrific form, winning their last five finals. But the remarkable part of their history-making run was that they were on the brink of exit in the opening round. Any shuttler would tell you that playing the Indonesians at Istora Senayan is a massive challenge, and on top of that Gicquel-Delrue, in the round of 32 against Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja, were 15-20 down in the decider. But they scripted a stunning fightback to stave off six match points to silence the home crowd. From the verge of an early exit, on Sunday they stood atop the podium.
'I couldn't believe it,' Gicquel told BWF. 'The start was super hard and we got through, and we never thought we'd get this far after the first round. It's crazy, it was one of our goals to win a big tournament this year. It's a lot of hard work behind this, so we're grateful.'
The duo, who had reached the final at China Open last year for their biggest World Tour breakthrough, have been steadily on the rise and part of the French evolution in badminton. Currently, France have three men's singles players in the top 20, with young Alex Lanier leading the way at No 8. The Popov brothers are in the top 20 in men's doubles too. And Gicquel-Delrue are back in the top 10.
'We are on the right path. We want to be playing these big matches, play against the best in the world,' Gicquel had told The Indian Express at India Open earlier this year, where they reached the final. 'We haven't yet achieved what we want to in badminton,' Delrue added. 'We still have big motivation for the next four years till LA 2028. To have a stable environment around us and just focus on badminton has been nice. Over the last year or so, we didn't have the best staff, but since the last six months, it's been nice and our mind is free to just play. We have a goal to be back in top 10 first and then top 8. We have a lot of goals for the year.'
And with the triumph in Indonesia, the former world No 5 pair ticked off one of their main targets. A better understanding of each other's game, the freedom that has come with having a bigger team around them have been key to their resurgence as they target a good showing at the home World Championships later this year. 'We have new members of staff, we completely changed things in September. We are now working with a Danish coach, an Icelandic coach and a French coach,' Gicquel had said. 'It's working pretty well, and we are improving. It's a nice feeling that we are 26 and still improving. We need to have the fire in our mind and body if we want to really reach the top level, for that we need to have goals to improve and goals of tournaments. Our big target for the season is the World Championships in Paris again in the same hall as the Olympics.'
Reigning Olympic and World Champion An Seyoung is on course for a calendar Super 1000 slam, having won all three of the majors now. But on Sunday, it was not a story of her dominance, but one of grit. She was down 13-21 9-17 in the final against her closest threat this year in world No 2 Wang Zhi Yi. It looked like a second defeat in two weeks was on the cards, after having not lost a single match in the year before Singapore last year. But, a service error by Wang triggered a stunning turnaround for Seyoung as she found her footing to complete her hat-trick. Also on course for completing the Super 1000 set in 2025 are Kim and Seo, the best pair in the world at the moment, having climbed through to the top 5 in the space of few months.
RESULTS:
MS: Anders Antonsen beat Chou Tien-chen 22-20 21-14
WS: An Se-young beat Wang Zhiyi 13-21 21-19 21-15.
WD: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning beat Thinaah Muralitharan-Pearly Tan 23-25 21-12 21-19.
MD: Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-Jae beat Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Isfahani 18-21 21-19 21-12
XD: Thom Gicquel-Delphine beat Dechapol Puavaranukroh – Supissara Paewsampran 21-16 21-18
Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assistant Editor and is based in New Delhi. ... Read More
