MBBC Jr. International: Ana Lucia thrashes Marie Waland to take Girl’s Singles crown
Guatemala’s talented campaigner Ana Lucia De Leon stamped Marie Waland in the title match of Girl’s Singles Under-22 category and claimed the crown in MBBC Jr. International on July 20, 2012.
This final encounter was played at Manhattan Beach in California, USA and both contenders displayed superb badminton skills while piling up concluding figures of 13-21, 21-14 and 21-13.
There was lot of drama throughout this battle as Marie Waland was in strong position to unseat her challenger at one stage but then opposing shuttler’s determination proved too much for her.
The Norwegian player proved her guts in opening game of the match as she clinched first match point with a notable difference in the final result.
She got into commanding position by pocketing five consecutive points in start and then doubled the impact with 9-3 total.
At this stage, she got off track for a short span of time which resulted in 9-6 margin but then a couple of uninterrupted rallies helped her to finish the first half with a respectable figure of 11-7.
Later part of the game started with few back-to-back rallies as both female shuttlers put all they had to oust their opponent.
The Guatemala campaigner made every effort to catch her challenger but she could not match her speed and gave up this futile chase after reading 13-21 score on the board.
However, Ana Lucia made amends and enthralled her competitor with a lustrous performance in the very next game.
This time she changed her tactics and launched an immediate attack to gain an early advantage. She prevailed in four nonstop rallies after 4-3 and then carried this momentum until 11-6 before the interval.
After one-minute break, she did not lose her grip over the game and wrapped second set with a distinctive seven-point lead in 21-14.
This revised match score position made the decider consequential as both contenders were standing on the same level with one win each.
The Norwegian youngster Marie strived hard in first half and remained close to her rival but then Ana Lucia left her far behind with a giant leap from 6-5 to 11-5 total.
Ana maintained the upper hand all the way to game point situation and locked the honour with a favourable result of 21-13.
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