While the teams in Group B had their first matches only today, the other three had already had their opening day yesterday. Sadly, the journey in the Sudirman Cup is already over for two of our European teams competing this week in Suzhou, China — but we’ll still see them meeting each other on Wednesday, playing for the third spot of their group.

France and England faced significant challenges for their second match-ups, meeting two of the competition’s strongest squads. Just like yesterday, the French athletes fought with determination, not letting their opponents get away with a total victory by scoring one point in the team match.

“We are happy to have beat the world number two. It is nice to win this one for the team too, and it is always good to start with a win,” Thom Gicquel said after his and Delphine Delrue’s mixed doubles victory against Yuta Watanabe/ Arisa Higashino. “We tried some new things and they worked,” Delrue added.

Despite their efforts and flair, the French players could not secure any further wins in their clash against Japan. However, there are positives to take from today’s performances. “It was a great experience for me to play against the world number three. I did my best, but I was a little tired at the end of each game. This match will serve me for the future,” Alex Lanier said about his loss against Kodai Naraoka. 

Similarly, England lost 1-4 to Korea. The team had already lost the team match, being 0-3 down, but Ben Lane/ Sean Vendy were not going to give up their chance at earning their team a win. The English duo won the match against Choi Sol Gyu/ Na Sung Seung 20-22, 21-12, 21-13.

"Every time we put on an English shirt, we will try and fight a hundred percent. It was a pretty solid game for us. It was nice to get a win for the team even though the match was already lost," Sean Vendy stated.

The men’s doubles match was also today’s highlight for Germany. Just like England, they were down 0-3 when reigning European champions Mark Lamsfuss/ Marvin Seidel stepped on court to play against Supak Jomkoh/ Kittinupong Kedren. 

“They played well. They gave us too many lifts and we were struggling to make the points that we should have made. We managed to come back in the third game and that’s all that matters,” Seidel said after their three-game win, 21-12, 13-21, 21-13.

Despite today’s loss, Germany will have their chance again tomorrow in their second team match of the group stage against Indonesia. Denmark, who won their match against Singapore yesterday, will be facing Egypt.

You can check today’s results here.