Lado Harris 1200x410 1

January 31, 2023

Two English pairings were victorious on a busy weekend of action at the Iceland International in Reykjavik.

Brandon Yap and Annie Lado claimed the mixed doubles crown, while later on in the day Lado and Abbygael Harris were victorious in the women’s doubles event.

After reaching Sunday’s semi-finals, Yap and Lado beat Dutch fourth seeds Dyon Van Wijlick and Kirsten De Wit to set up a final clash against Hjalte Johansen and Emma Irring Brauner.

The unseeded Danish pair proved an incredibly tough test, though Yap and Lado rallied from a game down to prevail 13-21 21-12 23-21 to take home the title.

That was the first of two finals for both Lado and Yap, with Lado ultimately taking home two titles from a hugely successful weekend.

Lado and Harris started Sunday by defeating top seeds Kati-Kreet Marran and Helina Ruutel of Estonia 22-20 21-13 in the last four.

The English pairing then beat Italian second seeds Katharina Fink and Yasmine Hamza 21-13 21-18 in the final.

Yap was seeded third in the men’s doubles event alongside Alex Green, and early on Sunday they beat Danish duo Hjalte Johansen and Calvin Lundsgaard 21-18 23-21 to reach the final.

Yap and Green were beaten by Jonas Kudsk and Jeppe Soby 21-9 21-17 in the showpiece but there are plenty of positives for the pair to take from their performance.

Outside of the three finalists, there were plenty of other English players in action.

One of the most impressive performers was Leona Lee, who came through qualifying to reach the quarter-final of the women’s singles.

After successfully progressing through the qualification event, Lee beat Florentine Schoffski and Sofie Karmann to reach the last eight.

Despite defeat Lee still impressed in her quarter-final clash, falling 18-21 21-17 21-9 to fourth seed Frederikke Lund in a competitive encounter.

Gauri Shidhaye and Alexandra Oprisan were also in action, losing first round matches to Anna Siess Ryberg and seventh seed Era Maftuha respectively.

In the men’s singles event, Heng Lin Ngan picked up an impressive win in his opening round match against Dutchman Finn Acthoven before being beaten in a tight straight games encounter by Mathias Solgaard.

Sid Palakkal also progressed through qualifying to make the main draw, where he was beaten by Victor Ording Kauffman in the first round.

In the men’s doubles, Koon Fung Kelvin Ho impressed as he reached the semi-finals alongside Jamaica’s Samuel O’Brien Ricketts.

After two impressive straight game wins, Ho and partner Ricketts battled past Jakob Houe and Mads Juel Moller 21-18 17-21 26-24 in the last eight before being defeated by eventual champions Kudsk and Soby.

Kudsk and Soby also defeated seventh seeds Oliver Butler and Samuel Jones in the opening round, while Jia Bin Lee and Jason Ou came through qualifying before falling in round 1.

Chloe Dennis and Leona Lee were in women’s doubles action, losing to eventual runners-up Fink and Hamza in round 2, while Asha and Maya Kateli and Lila Dundas and Yulia Tang were beaten in the first round.

Oliver Butler and Dennis were in mixed doubles action, reaching the round of 16 before falling 21-14 17-21 23-21 in a battling display against third seeds Andy Buijk and Kelly Van Buiten, while Ho and Zhi Yang lost in the opening round.

Recent posts

Back to news