Zulfadli Zulkiffli trounces Michael Lahnsteiner in qualifying round of Yonex French Badminton Open
Malaysia’s budding shuttler Zulfadli Zulkiffli registered his presence in Yonex French Badminton Open as he thrashed Michael Lahnsteiner in the qualifying round on October 23, 2012.
This Men’s Singles tussle remained in full swing for 36 minutes and kept both contenders head-to-head before ending with 21-13 and 21-12 margin.
The victorious shuttler played with great precision and sealed a splendid straight-set victory whereas the Austrian campaigner could not rise on his toes and crashed out of this Super Series.
This timely win led Zulfadli to the second stage of qualifying round and now he will be up against a native shuttler Matthieu Lo Ying Ping.
The Malaysian youngster will employ all of his brilliance to live up to the expectations in the local badminton arena of Paris.
Earlier in the opening match, Zulfadli set the ball rolling straight away in the beginning of first set. He mounted pressure with four consecutive points and then made best out of this early advantage to place a decent total of 9-3.
Next couple of rallies saw him making some mistakes which allowed his rival to narrow the gap but then he reinstated his grip over the game.
After one-minute interval, Zulfadli picked some pace and left his competitor far behind with an indomitable margin of 15-6.
He did not lose focus in final stage of the set and bagged the opening match point with an impressive figure of 21-13.
The following game kept the audience intact until the mid-game break but it proved a dead contest in second half.
Initially, both contenders snapped at each other’s heels and stood close on points table. Neither of them could establish a permanent lead before the announcement of break.
Zulfadli gained a respectable advantage with 5-3 total but then Michael counter-balanced the situation with couple of uninterrupted rallies and caught his opponent at 8-8.
However, later part of the game completely belonged to the Malaysian shuttler as he blew away his challenger with a gutsy knock.
Zulfadli widened the gap with 17-9 and then swept the table with a huge difference in decisive figure of 21-12.
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