Naraoka in History

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Alex Lanier followed his compatriots Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue in adding more chapters to the history books.

After Gicquel/Delrue had become the first French to make a BWF World Championships final, Lanier added his own subtext – he became the first French player in a singles final. The journey to the final came through a hard test against Victor Lai, who too was in the reckoning to make history for Canada.

Lai dominated the early proceedings before Lanier endurance in the rallies changed the momentum.

“At some point I was like ‘let’s fight, let’s play the rally’. I needed to trust that I’m consistent and stronger on court. That was the most difficult part of the match. The rallies were going long, I think it hurt me, but also Victor and definitely that was the momentum that I needed to catch,” said Lanier.

“And I went 100 per cent for it, like my body was saying, ‘okay, you’ll a little bit tired and that’s tough, but then my mind was saying, just kind of shut up and play’.”

Facing Lanier in the final will be Kodai Naraoka, who made his second final of the BWF World Championships, but this time in contrasting style to his achievement at Copenhagen three years ago.

Back then Naraoka was primarily a defensive player, reliant on his ability to outlast opponents. In recent months he has worked on becoming more explosive and forcing the pace; that style was in evidence as he stopped Chou Tien Chen’s epic quest for a title at 36.

Among the big results of the day was the upset of defending champions Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae to Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, who have spent the last few tournaments with different partners.

The Malaysians will attempt to regain the title they won in 2022.

Chia/Soh’s quest for a second title will be against Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, who are in line for their first.

» Akane Yamaguchi has the opportunity to become the most successful women’s singles winner in history when she takes on An Se Young. Yamaguchi is currently tied with Carolina Marin, each having won three titles.

» Women’s doubles defending champions Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning looked in trouble against an inspired Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, but after an opening game setback, established their dominance. In their path to a second title will be Lee So Hee/Baek Ha Na.

“I knew he’s physically probably the strongest player on Tour, so he can always keep up his speed and his power for the whole three games. So that’s just kudos to him, and that’s something that I need to work on.” – Victor Lai

“There was no pressure on us, we came here as underdogs. We didn’t have any targets. That’s the thing we brought to this stage.” – Aaron Chia

“Before we partnered, we were good friends. After his marriage he left me (laughs). We have been through a lot. Of course it’s emotional when we don’t partner. But we will cherish this moment.” – Soh Wooi Yik