20 October, 2024
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy enjoyed an admirable run to the quarter-finals at the 2024 Denmark Open.
Lane and Vendy, who represented Team GB at Paris 2024, started off their men’s doubles campaign against the Malaysian duo of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, dispatching their first-round opponents 21-18 21-8.
Then came the challenge of Chinese Taipei pair Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan, who took Lane and Vendy to the wire in Odense.
After winning the first game 21-16, the English shuttlers were pegged back as Lee and Yang took the second 21-14, setting up a decider.
Lane and Vendy held their nerve, winning a nail-biting game 23-21 to progress to the last eight.
Indonesian sixth seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto were next up, and Lane and Vendy lost out 21-15 21-19 to see their run come to an end.
Elsewhere in the men’s doubles, Callum Hemming and Ethan van Leeuwen were unable to make it past the first round, with Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee coming out on top 21-11 21-10.
Hemming exited at the same stage of the mixed doubles alongside Estelle van Leeuwen, with the pair beaten by Danish duo Rasmus Espersen and Amalie Cecilie Kudsk.
Ethan van Leeuwen was also in mixed doubles action alongside Chloe Birch but they also went out at the first hurdle after being beaten 21-7 21-14 by Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing.
Greg and Jenny Mairs lost out at the same stage against Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and fourth-seed Tang Chun Man.
Birch and Estelle van Leeuwen were beaten in the first round of the women’s doubles competition, with Chinese eighth seeds Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min progressing in straight games.