Aleksander Butovetckiy, Gusel Yarmeeva shine in Portuguese International Junior Championships
Russia’s spirited Mixed Doubles team Aleksander Butovetckiy-Gusel Yarmeeva remained invincible also in the final round of the 4th Portuguese International Junior Championships and won the trophy on December 2, 2012.
They outshined the compatriot duo Rodion Alimov-Alina Davletova in a 45-minute tussle which was staged at the local badminton arena of Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.
Both contenders put an honest effort to lock the honour and finished this grand finale with concluding figures of 23-21, 13-21 and 22-20.
The victorious pair prevailed in the opening and ending segments of the showdown while the other Russian couple could forge a fruitful chemistry only in the second set.
Aleksander and Gusel were a bit off colour in the beginning of the first set as they took some time to gain the required momentum.
However, few back-to-back productive rallies helped them to get on the right track and they never looked back.
They played with great precision and finished the first half of the set with a mountainous figure of 11.
Later part of the game was filled with lot of excitement as the opposing duo showed some spark and brought life back into the contest.
The twosome of Rodion and Alina dominated overall pace of the rallies and stood equal in third quarter of the set.
Both pairs remained close on the points table but Aleksander-Gusel placed a tight yet decisive margin of 23-21 to pocket the first match point.
However, they could not capitalise this lead and lost the following game in a disgraceful manner.
Meanwhile, Rodion and Alina showed elevated craft and managed to stay alive in the contest. They employed unusual tactics and kept a low profile in the beginning. They gathered some pace and left their competitors far behind before the interval.
After the mid-game break, Rodion and Alina injected more intensity in their attack and confined their challengers in the rear court.
They relished full benefits of this psychological edge and won the second set of match with a favourable score position of 21-13.
The decider proved a real test of mental and physical fitness for both teams as they had to sweat hard for this final match point.
Aleksander and Gusel showed superior finishing skills and clutched the trophy after putting 22-20 margin on the board.
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