Uganda International Badminton Championships: Dorian Lance James and Willem Viljoen lift crown
South Africa’s best players, Dorian Lance James and Willem Viljoen, proved their elite skills on the final day and won Men’s Doubles crown at Uganda International Badminton Championships 2012 at Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday, February 5.
In the final showdown, Dorian and Willem, who were the top seeds in Men’s Doubles draw, overpowered the second seeded shuttler, Ola Fagbemi and Jinkan Ifraimu, of Nigeria.
Right from the starting points, both sides showed their aggressive approach and entertained the crowd with their power play. They did not let the pace of rallies down at any stage in the first half of opening game.
Dorian and Willem were impressive at net but their lower ranked challengers also played at the similar level. Both sides progressed equally and remained unable to set up a comfortable lead until the one-minute break.
After the break, top seeded Dorian and Willem played to their maximum speed but could not manage to take lead as their challengers also did not commit any mistake until the score reached at the concluding phase.
At this crucial stage, Dorian and Willem employed their experience and managed to push their rivals on the back foot by taking the bird from the tape of net.
The top seeds executed a few fabulous down-the-line strokes and remained successful in taking the game with a tight score of 24-22.
In the following set, Ola and Jinkan played different game as they started to dominate rallies from the opening points. However, they failed to take lead as their higher ranked opponents also played well and remained close until the break.
After the interval, Dorian and Willem became quicker and played powerful strokes to create pressure on their rivals but again failed to produce good results as Ola and Jinkan were flawless in their strategy.
In the concluding phase of second set, Dorian and Willem again utilised their experience as they played with precision by dominating the rallies at net and bagged the game with a narrow 21-19 score on the board.
Dorian and Willem emerged as the winners of this 37-minute contest with a tight margin of 24-22 and 21-19.
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