Prague will see badminton battles. Loud defends his victory at the Czech Open
It will be the best-attended tournament in the Czech Republic. The Czech Open is moving from the hall in Brno to Štěrbohol in Prague, with a vision that will include elite Czech badminton players, as well as a number of high-quality foreign players. Last year, Jan Louda won the prestigious event, this year he is the second seed. The first seed is Tereza Švábíková, the duo Adam Mendrek and Ondřej Král will also be seen. Everything starts with Thursday’s qualifiers, the final matches are scheduled for Sunday. The Prague hall will also be open to the public, one-day admission will cost 150 crowns.
Last year at the Czech Open he coped with decent international competition. On it, Jan Louda beat Asian players, even Malaysian Ng Tze Young, who is now around 30th place in the world rankings. And the Czech number one wants to perform similar performances in Štěrboholy as well. He got off to a great start to the season when Louda made it all the way to the final in Lublin, Poland a few weeks ago. There he lost only to the Japanese Yushi Tanaka.
Quality competition awaits him at the Czech Open as well. The first seed is Denmark’s Victor Svendsen, who holds the 60th place in the world. That’s Louda’s sixty-ninth. Ade Resky Dwicahyo from Azerbaijan, the 75th ranked badminton player in the world, is also an interesting player. The Indian Siril Verma, whom Louda defeated last year in Brno, will also be on display.
Tereza Švábíková, who is the first seeded player in the tournament, also wants to perform in front of the home audience. She is looking forward to the Sterbohol hall, after all, she won the domestic championship here twice. “It is not a huge hall like those abroad, which would suit Czech players who grew up in falconry and gymnasiums,” added Švábíková, who played in some tournaments in July and then did not register for the tournament. “I want to prepare well for the start of Olympic qualification.” He doesn’t see much advantage in being a tournament affair. “It’s rather binding, the ranking position does indicate something, but it doesn’t play that much of a role.”
As a result, the pair Adam Mendrek and Ondřej Král definitely want to see at the Czech Open. You will enter the action as the second seeded pair. “I am extremely looking forward to the home atmosphere. It will be a little nerve-wracking, but if we show similar performances as in other tournaments abroad, then it will be good. We will strive for our progress to the finals and we want to win it best at home,” declared Mendrek.
The Danes Emil Lauritzen and Mads Vestergaard, who are in 75th place in the ranking, will be the first in Prague. The Czech couple holds the 77th place in the world.
Jaromír Janáček and Tomáš Švejda will also enter the doubles. Kateřina Tomalová, an experienced Czech player, will also be seen in the women’s singles. Veronika Dobiášová together with her. Other Czech players or couples are still fighting in the qualifiers. The Czech Open will have quality facilities, special lights from China, which can be seen at prestigious Asian tournaments, will be installed in the hall. The one-day entrance fee will cost 150 crowns, in total there will be around 300 seats in the stands for the public. The matches will also be streamed on Badminton Europe, there will be a link on Czech Badminton’s social networks.