The French pair of Fabien Delrue/ William Villeger impressed international fans at the India Open 2022 by reaching their first BWF Super 500 semifinal.
France is one of the European badminton nations with the most success. With well-established experienced players and a good bunch of upcoming talents that have already collected some medals, the French side have shown time and time again that they are a strong rival to beat.
There has been a lot of talk about France’s victories in men’s singles, but their achievements transcend the category. Fabien Delrue/ William Villeger are a good example of this in the doubles.
Taking every opportunity that comes your way
While some of our European talents are fighting on European soil, there are many who have started the 2022 calendar in India. The YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2022 had France taking on the challenge with single players Arnaud Merkle, Yaelle Hoyaux, and Lucas Claerbout — who put up a good fight in his match against Ng Tze Yong that went to three games 20-22, 21-15, 21-18.
However, Fabien Delrue/ William Villeger were the French and European stars of the tournament. They faced two of the home pairs, Aravind Kongara/ Venkatesh Prasad and Sanjai Srivatsa Dhanraj/ Siddarth Elango, winning in straight games before facing fellow European duo Joshua Magee/ Paul Reynolds.
The all-European quarterfinal resulted in a French victory, taking Delrue/ Villeger to their first semifinal at a BWF Super 500 event.
- It means a lot to us. This is the first time that we reach a semifinal at a Super 500 event. We had this opportunity and we took it, so feel very glad for that, Delrue said.
Determination to succeed
The French pair were seeded number eight and they knew they would have a tough challenge the closer they got to the deciding stages, and so they faced world number eight Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty.
- The toughest match was the semifinal. We are not used to playing against top 10 players, but it was a good experience. We did not feel any pressure on us. We knew that we were able to do it, so we took our chance and tried, Delrue explained.
With that good result, Delrue/ Villeger have travelled to Lucknow for the Syed Modi India International. This good start to the year has clearly given the Frenchmen the confidence and motivation to push for more in what could be a great year for them. They have started the India International with a win against Tushar Sharma/ Vinay Kumar Singh, 21-8 21-13.
- We feel confident about our future. Our target is to win European medals and to be able to be competitive with the best players in the world, Delrue stated.