Robin Harper and Harry Wakefield were the pick of the performances after reaching the men’s doubles final of the Malta International 2025.
The duo fell to Chen Sheng Fa and Lu Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-14 21-7 in the showpiece but will take heart from their performances in Cospicua.
The pair did not drop a game en route to the final, defeating France’s Maxime Leveque and Quentin Vincent 21-16 21-17 while fellow Englishmen Yue Chern Chua and Rowan Clark fell to the duo from Chinese Taipei 21-11 21-14 in the last four.
Over in the men’s singles, Cholan Kayan flew the English flag with a run to the final four.
Kayan’s campaign started with a comfortable 21-13 21-11 victory over Denmark’s Mathias Solgaard in the round of 32 before getting past Solgaard’s fellow Dane Søren Hald 21-14 21-19 in the next stage.
The quarter-final saw Kayan ease past Poland’s Mateusz Danielak 21-13 21-16 before his progress was checked by Danielak’s compatriot Dominik Kwinta.
After dropping the first game 21-13, Kayan battled back 26-24 to set up a decider but narrowly fell short, losing out 21-19 to the Pole in 74 minutes.
While in the mixed doubles, Harry Goode and Natasha Lado lost out in an epic against the Netherlands’ Szymon Slepecki and Anastasia Khomich in the round of 16.
Goode and Lado battled back 30-29 in an end-to-end second game after losing the first 21-19 but fell short against the Dutch duo in the decider 21-15.
Luke Salwey and Chloe Dennis made it one step further with defeat in the last eight after a hard-fought 21-16 21-17 loss to Louis Lefevre and Carla Martinez of France.
And in the women’s doubles, England’s Lisa Curtin reached the quarter finals partnered with Wales’ Saffron Morris before succumbing to the Polish pairing of Khomich and Ulyana Volksaya.
After dropping the first game 21-17, Curtin and Morris replied back with a 21-16 success in the second before losing the decider 21-12.
It was a similar story for Dennis and Lado, who narrowly fell short against Mathilde Slotsager and Lærke Wiktoria Wendel of Denmark in the last 16.
The English pairing won the first game 21-18 before dropping the second 23-21 ahead of a back-and-forth battle in the decider, ultimately losing out 21-19.
Image credit: Jnanesh Salian/BadmintonPhoto
