Great news for Czech badminton! Jan Louda became the winner of the popular LI-NING Czech Open tournament held in Brno. In the final duel, he lost to 82nd world player Ng Tze Yong from Malaysia after a fight. For the first time in his career, he won the title of the International Series tournament. “It’s a huge achievement. Because it’s home, I appreciate it a lot. The atmosphere and the spectators helped me a lot,” said Louda after the success of the tournament, which was attended by many. Asian players.

It was the biggest badminton event in the Czech Republic, attended by over 300 players from 37 countries. Jan Louda entered the LI-NING Czech Open as an unranked player and in the first round he faced Spaniard Alvar Vazquez. In the second he met Jiří Král and in the quarter-finals he challenged Finn Joakim Olddorff, one of the best European juniors. Ind Siril Verma, eighth seed, was waiting for him in the semifinals. But Louda swept him off the pitch with the result 21: 9, 21:12. “It was definitely one of the best matches of this year, by the way, it was a bit obvious that Verma was tired,” recapitulated the Czech number one.

In the final, he crossed paths with Ng Tze Yong from Malaysia, with whom Louda fought a huge battle. The Malaysian showed perfect athletic preparation and observation. The first set went his way, but Louda did not give up in front of the noisy audience in Brno, the cross of the second set went well, in which he ran away at 5:11 p.m. and finished it successfully . The Czech player’s opponent got into the third set a little better, but at 12:12 he started almost from the start. The end of the match brought great exchanges and matchbreaks from both players. At 26:25, after another good exchange, the 22-year-old Czech player could already kneel down.

“I don’t even know how I managed to win it, some trades were crazy, I refused two or three matchwords. I tried to control the game, not to take unnecessary risks. In the end, it was amazing emotions, i just sat and screamed, ”said Louda, who has already managed to reach the final of the Spanish international tournament Iberdrola in his career.“ But it’s a title of one. home event, which was also full of quality players. Among them, for example, the Asians, who are just starting out in European tournaments and in a few years, for example, may be among the best in the world, ”Louda added. “It’s definitely one of my biggest career hits, maybe the biggest.”

Louda badminton has thus confirmed the great form it has this season. He’s been preparing for a long time in Pilsen, where the National Badminton Center opened this year, where he works under coach Josef Rubáš. The badminton association has also started to cooperate with Spanish coach Oscar Martínez Salán, who coached Louda at the LI-NING Czech Open. “It is a confirmation that we are on the right track. Several of our players in the tournament performed above their standards in a huge Asian competition, hard work and a defined system were evident. I appreciate it. also really the fact that we were able to organize such a stimulating tournament for players around the world at that time, ”said Petr Koukal, president of the badminton association.

It was Koukal who won this tournament 12 years ago. “I am very happy that Honza has followed me. We see great potential in him and he can strive to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris. In Brno he proved he can beat Asian players,” said added Koukal. On the women’s side, Sabina Milová moved away the furthest from Czech players, who lost to Malaysian player Siti Nurshuhaini, who reached the final. And after a very good performance in three sets. Putri Kusima Waedani, an Indonesian, won the title in women.