Ballarat’s badminton players have used the home court advantage to progress to the Australian Junior International under-19 quarter finals.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mitchell Gervasoni and Alice Lorincz paired up for the mixed doubles event yesterday at Ken Kay Stadium and took out the second round against Tongan pair Renaey Aikoniume Na’Aniumotu and Lusia Ki Taulanga Faukafa in a whopping 21-6, 21-4 defeat.
The local pair will enter the quarter finals today against seed two pair Anthony Joe and Joy Lai.
“I was happy with how I played, there was an improvement on the last few tournaments, I concentrated a bit more,” Gervasoni said.
“(Alice) is talented and plays really well.
“(The quarter final) will be pretty tough because they are pretty high competition. It will be a big test to see how I play, but I’ll have a good crack at it.”
The 17-year-old will also play the quarter finals in the boys’ singles and doubles events after he won each of his matches yesterday.
Lorincz has put on an impressive show in the girls’ singles and doubles.
In the singles, Lorincz will go head-to-head with Indonesian import and seed three Josephine Leonila.
After defeating Leonila and Mitzi Abigail Purnama in the girls’ doubles with partner Malvika Hemanth in three sets 13-21, 21-17, 21-16, Lorincz and Hemanth will enter the quarter finals against Chloe Chen and Janice Au.
Ballarat player Elijah Dale faced seed three Simon Wing Hang Leung early in the boys’ singles tournament and was knocked out in round two.
The young player fell short of the quarter finals in the mixed doubles when he and Katrina Lowe lost in straight sets to Raymond Sing and Josephine Liu, 21-11, 21-15.
Dale enter the boys doubles event with partner Marco Ma today when they face Australian duo David Chin and David Zheng Xuan Kang.