The world tour badminton tournament organized in Vantaa gathered the world’s top 10 players. The prize money of 400,000 dollars was a record in Finnish sports.
The hard-level competition of the badminton world tour, the Arctic Open, culminated in the finals on Sunday. The tournament organized in Vantaa was the first competition of the highest international badminton tour organized in Finland.
No less than six of the ten best badminton players in the world were seen in Vantaa.
– I would say that there has never been such a tough finals day in Finland, nor a tournament in general, head coach of the Badminton League Ville Lång confirm.
Lång hints that Finland would organize an equally high-quality tournament four years in a row.
– For the Finnish badminton community, this is an incredible thing. I personally see that for young Finns who play badminton, it is of the utmost importance for them to see how the world’s top players play live and can feel the atmosphere at the same time.
Badminton World Tour competitions have a gigantic television presence in the world. According to the Finnish Badminton Association, the reach of the tournament is up to more than 500 million households.
The new mayor of Vantaa was also happy about the big event Pekka Timonen.
Last fall, Finland organized the Badminton World Championships for mixed teams in Vantaa. According to press reports, it was the most watched TV signal broadcast from Finland of all time. At that time, the final broadcast was said to have reached around 640 million households.
– Of course, we hope that the tournament will also be financially beneficial. We will see it later. What will be the impact on young Finnish badminton promises, the result of that cannot be said for a long time. Let’s hope they get more boost, and that one of them would still be playing on Sunday (in the finals), Lång says.
Lång promises a Finnish man Paris
In the badminton world rankings, Lång was at the best of his playing career at 21st in 2009. He reached the top 16 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the best Finnish singles player of all time.
Lång promises that a Finnish player will be seen at the Paris Olympics and that the sport’s long Finnish Olympic representation will continue. Since 1992, Finnish badminton players have participated in all Olympic tournaments.
– The probability in the men’s singles game is practically a one hundred percent sure thing, but instead it is open, which of the Finns will play there.
Finland was represented in Tokyo 2021 Kalle Koljonen, whose Olympic career ended in the first group. The Olympic qualifiers are currently being played, and in less than a year they will already be played in Paris.
– Is Koljonen there or not? Joakim Oldorff, then the boys will decide it among themselves based on the competitions. The decisive thing is who is higher in the ranking, Lång insists.
Finnish badminton needs width
Lång emphasizes that there is plenty to do in the future.
– Everything starts from the young players there. We have a lot to learn and develop in that field. There should be more width. The fact that young Finnish people would be able to train with other top Finnish athletes who are good enough is, in my opinion, the key thing to pay attention to. The situation is challenging but can be developed, characterizes Lång.
Finnish promise in women’s singles, only 17 years old Nella Nyqvist At the age of 16, he won the European Under-19 bronze medal in August 2022 and won gold at the Summer Olympic Festival in the same year.
– I don’t think that Nella will have time for this Olympic train yet. Maybe game-wise, he might have something to offer, but in light of the world ranking and points, I don’t think he has a chance, Lång reflects.
According to Lång, Nyqvist’s presence in Paris is not even important yet.
– She is a young girl and it is probably good to focus on development at this stage. In Los Angeles in 2028, says the head coach of the association.
Ville Lång was interviewed by Anders Nordenswan.
The high-level competition of the badminton world tour, the Arctic Open, culminated in the finals in Vantaa on Sunday.
In the men’s singles, a Malaysian was crowned the winner Lee Zi Jiawho defeated his countryman by NG Tze Yong directly in two sets 21–14, 21–15.
The Chinese won the women’s singles Han Yue. He won his land Wang Zhiyin after a tight three-set struggle 16–21, 22–20, 21–12.
The men’s doubles saw the only European players in the finals, as Denmark, who placed fourth in the tournament Kim Astrup and Anders Skaup Rasmussen beat Malaysia Man Wei Chong’s and Kai Wun Tean 21–18, 21–17.
Women’s doubles champions were crowned Liu Sheng Shu and Tang Ning From China. The duo beat the Thai pair in the final match Kititharakul of Jongkolphan and Rawinda Prajongjai 21–13, 24–22.
of Denmark Mia Blichfeldt26, knocked out Finland, which entered the tournament as a wild card, in the opening round Nella Nyqvist’s17, final score 21–15, 21–13.
Indonesian Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo hit Kalle Koljonen in the first round 21–14, 21–16.
Joakim Oldorff lost their opening round match to Malaysia For Leong Jun Hao batch reading 17–21, 20–22.