The final day of the group stage at the HSBC BWF World Tour finals in Guangzhou, China, has come to an end and there is one European representation in the semi-finals.
The Danish Mixed Doubles pair, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, has reached the semi-finals of the tournament, after finishing second in Group A.
The pair managed to win one game in the group stage. With the Indonesian pair, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, pulling out, the Danes qualified for the semi-final in Guangzhou.
The Danish pair is the only European one left at the finals, after the Stoeva sisters have bowed out, as well as the English pair, Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith, despite them winning their final match.
semi-finals for Astrup and Rasmussen
Despite losing to Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen in the final match of the group stage, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen are through to the semi-finals of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
The pair was the victim of a three-game match, which they lead after winning the first game (21-18) against the Chinese pair, which has won all of their matches, including the one against the World Champions, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.
The second match was very much the Chinese pair coming into the match, and they managed to dominate the game, they won 21-15.
Taking it to a third game, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen managed to win the deciding third game 21-17 to finish at the top of the group, ahead of the Danish pair.
World's number one pulls out
Ahead of the final group match against Han Chengkai/Zou Haodong (China), it was announced that Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon would withdraw from the tournament, due to an injury.
Putra PSBI’s Assistant Coach, Aryono Miranat, revealed that the Indonesians would pull out ahead of the final match, due to a muscle injury in the neck of Marcus Gideon.
- Marcus's neck muscles were pulled yesterday, he was afraid of getting worse. So, it was better to retreat. We had asked to think again, and finally decided to resign, he said.
- It happened, when facing a Danish couple, (Kim) Astrup / (Anders Skaarup) Rasmussen. At that time, the match was hard, he added.