March 12, 2023
Johnnie Torjussen secured his first international title at the Portugal International Championships after a tense men’s singles final against Victor Ording Kauffmann of Denmark.
The 23-year-old national champion triumphed 21-13 16-21 21-18 on Sunday afternoon following a 21-14 21-15 win over France’s Enogat Roy in the semi-finals earlier that day.
The second game against the Dane was the only one Torjussen dropped across the three days, as he made his way past Austrian Wolfgang Gnedt 21-10 25-23 in the Round of 32.
Torjussen knocked out the third seed Danylo Bosniuk from Ukraine in the Round of 16, before easing past Ireland’s Jonathan Dolan in the last eight.
The shuttler’s success was also a significant boon for Badminton England’s new singles program that was launched last summer.
Torjussen was England’s lone representative in a final in Caldas da Rainha, but three English pairs reached the final four stage.
#PortugalInternational 🏆 Well done to Johnnie Torjussen for bringing the🥇 home over the weekend.
Amazing achievement! 🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/vmUftbM74z
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) March 13, 2023
Fourth seeds Abbygael Harris and Annie Lado were made to work by Tea Margueritte and Flavie Vallet in the women’s doubles quarter-final, but they defeated the French pairing 21-14 23-21.
Sian Kelly and Lizzie Tolman had fallen to Margueritte and Vallet in the Round of 16, while Lado and Harris eventually succumbed to Denmark’s Christine Busch and Amalie Schulz in the semis.
Steven Stallwood earned himself two semi-final matches on Sunday, first with Hope Warner in the mixed doubles event, where they narrowly missed out 19-21 21-9 21-15 against Canadian opposition.
Their route to the final four included a tight 21-19 22-20 victory over Vallet and William Villeger, the latter having also faced Stallwood in the men’s doubles semi-final.
To set up that clash, Stallwood and Alex Green defeated Ivan Rusev and Iliyan Stoynov of Bulgaria 21-13 21-16 in the quarter-finals.
Stallwood and Green could not make it through to the gold medal match, as Villeger and his compatriot Julien Maio won 21-19 21-14.
The YONEX All England 2023 is here! 🏆
Our 🏴 players are set to compete from March 14-19, at Utilita Arena Birmingham.
Catch all live action on https://t.co/QW3rjpL6ua or tune in to watch QF, SF and finals on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC app. #YAE23 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZpHEwSQa2V
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) March 12, 2023
Elsewhere, three other English mixed doubles pairs reached the Round of 16, namely Callum Hemming/Jessica Pugh, Koon Fung Kelvin Ho/Zi Yang and Alex Green/Lizzie Tolman.
Hemming also earned a men’s doubles quarter-final spot alongside Ethan van Leeuwen, where they met their match in Tori Aizawa and Yuto Noda of Japan.
Rory Easton and Zach Russ too had a quarter-final exit at the expense of Japanese opposition – eventual finalists Kazuhiro Ichikawa and Daiki Umayahara.
Finally, Pugh entered the women’s doubles event with Canadian Honderich and the pair battled their way to the quarter-finals after straightforward wins against Spanish and Swiss pairings.
