Andrew Smith casts out Magnus Ingi Helgason in first round of 2012 Iceland International
England’s Andrew Smith had a perfect start of Iceland International as he did not face any trouble to clear first round and eased into the pre quarter-finals on Friday, November 9, 2012.
He intercepted the native shuttler Magnus Ingi Helgason by registering an impressive result of 21-12 and 21-9.
This Men’s Singles encounter was staged at the local badminton arena of Reykjavik and it remained in full swing for 19 minutes.
The victorious shuttler did not give his rival even a single chance to come back and sealed a straight-set victory.
Meanwhile, Magnus Ingi could not relish the benefits of home ground and crowd and crashed out in a shameful manner.
Things became worse for him straight away in the beginning of first set as he dropped many valuable points in a row.
The British campaigner did not miss this opportunity and established an unassailable lead with a staggering knock.
Andrew Smith mounted pressure by placing a mountainous total of 11 before the interval and then magnified the impact with couple of productive rallies in the third quarter of the set.
After the mid-game break, he picked some pace and widened the gap with few uninterrupted points.
This deficit proved too much for the local player as he could not lift this burden and knelt down tamely.
On the other hand, Andrew Smith did not show any mercy and continued playing with an authoritative approach. He swept the table with an overwhelming figure of 21-12.
The second set proved just a replay of previous game as Magnus Ingi failed to come out of his challenger’s influence and remained at the lower end all the way to game point situation.
In first half of the set, Andrew Smith gained an early advantage and enjoyed an upper hand until the announcement of one-minute break.
He maintained this momentum even after the interval and left his competitor far behind with a winning margin of 21-9.
This win took him to the pre quarter-final round where he will be up against another British player Vendy Sean.
The second seeded Andrew Smith is expected to have a smooth road to the final rounds of this International Series as his next challengers will be relatively lower ranked shuttlers.
Tags: