European Universities Games: Vladimir Malkov thrashes Emre Arslan in Men’s Singles third round
Russia’s talented shuttler Vladimir Malkov trounced Emre Arslan and marched into Men's Singles quarter-finals of European Universities Games-Badminton Individual Tournament on July 16, 2012.
This pre quarter-final encounter was staged at Rafael Lozano badminton arena of Cordoba, Spain as the Russian campaigner stole the limelight by registering 21-10 and 21-12 scores in just two games.
Meanwhile, the opposing shuttler had to draw a blank despite putting up laudable resistance against a higher ranked opponent.
Now Vladimir, who belongs to University of Saratov, will lock horns with Swiss campaigner Christoph Heiniger in round of eight.
The top seeded Vladimir will utilise his confidence which he has earned by performing exceedingly well in preliminary stages of the tournament.
Earlier, he proved his mettle against Turkish shuttler in pre quarter-final round and sealed a splendid straight-set victory.
He started the beating straight away in the beginning and kept his challenger under control until the last shot was played.
In first set of the match, the Russian shuttler made his intentions clear by clinching six opening points in a row.
This power packed campaign pushed Emre Arslan on the back-foot and he could not recover from this blow.
On the other hand, Vladimir did not show mercy at any stage and dictated his competitor all the way to mid-game break. He pocketed ending three points to finish first half with a mountainous total of 11-4.
Later part of the game started with interesting development as Turkish shuttler showed some spark and mounted pressure with a couple of productive rallies.
However, this short campaign could not make any impact and Emre Arslan gave up this futile chase after reading 10-21 score on the board.
The second set of the match proved replay of the first one as Vladimir got into commanding position in start, lost grip in the middle and reinstated his supremacy in crucial moments.
He opened the marathon with a brisk attack and established a distinctive lead of five points with 7-2 margin.
At this stage, the opposing shuttler narrowed the gap by adding four continuous points but it was not enough to stop Vladimir from putting a respectable total of 11-7 before half time. He bagged 10 out of last 15 points and sealed a splendid win with final
result of 21-12.
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