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Gade Triumphs on Home Turf
Peter Gade celebrated a welcome return to form, and the birth of his daughter, by winning the Danish Open in Odense over the weekend.
| The seventh-seeded former world number one beat Joachim Persson in three games in an all-Denmark final to destroy Asian hopes of winning on European turf.
Gade won 21-18, 17-21, 21-14 in 59 minutes as the Asian challenge evaporated in the quarter-final stages. Gade accounted for China's second seed and Olympic bronze medallist Chen Jin in the quarter-finals with a 21-11, 21-16 victory. Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim also fell at the last eight stage, going down 21-15, 21-18 to Poland's Przemyslaw Wacha. There were strong runs by Singapore's Kendrick Lee and Indian Chetan Anand into the quarter-finals but they failed to get any farther. Lee was beaten 22-20, 15-21, 21-10 by Persson while Chetan also went down in three games, losing 19-21, 21-13, 21-8 to Danish fifth seed Kenneth Jonassen. But the week belonged to Gade, whose second child was born earlier this month. Despite the absence of Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei and China's Olympic champion Lin Dan, Gade turned in some excellent performances to emerge as the champion. He had a tough opening match against China's Lu Yi, hitting his straps at the right time to come through with a 21-14, 21-14 win. Next up was Dutchman Dicky Palyama, who offered hardly any resistance as Gade sailed through 21-7, 21-11. Then came his quarter-final against Chen, the All England champion who was unable to capture his best form, falling in two games. In the semi-finals, Gade was pitted against his countryman Jonassen. Again, the veteran was unstoppable as he cruised into the final with a 21-17, 21-9 victory. Malaysia's Olympic silver medallist Lee was originally entered for the tournament after a two-week break. However, he withdrew at the last minute citing fatigue from a gruelling post-Olympic schedule that included celebratory functions and tournaments. Lin, who lost the world number one ranking to Lee after winning Olympic gold, has yet to surface after his triumph in Beijing, though he is expected to make an appearance soon. |
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