MADRID, 22 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Veteran Pablo Abián was unable to put up a fight against the Singaporean
Kean Yew Loh, current champion, and was eliminated this Monday from the Badminton World Cup that is taking place in Tokyo until Sunday, while Luis Enrique Peñalver advanced to the second round in an authoritative manner.
The 37-year-old player from Aragon had a very complicated debut at the World Cup as he faced one of the favorites and current number eight in the world, whom he could not even bother as he fell by a double 21-12 in just half an hour.
Abián started focused and managed to take the initiative in the bars of the first game, although it was when he received the relentless reaction of his rival that he signed a 14-0 run to go from being dominated 5-8 to leaving the first set sentenced. In the second, a similar script, with the Spaniard holding at the beginning and then receiving a 7-0 run to lose his chances of extending the match.
For his part, the good news of the day was given by Luis Enrique Peñalver, who overcame a much more placid debut than that of his compatriot and who advanced to the second round after beating the Bulgarian Daniel Nikolov 21-11 and 21-15.
The player from Toledo was much superior, especially in the first game, where he escaped with ten points in a row to make it 16-6 unattainable for his opponent. In the second, the Spaniard continued without giving options, opening a comfortable advantage at the beginning that he did not waste to close his pass to the next round where he will face a greater obstacle, the Indian Lakshya Sen, tenth in the ranking.
This Tuesday will see the debut in Tokyo of Huelva-born Carolina Marín, triple world champion and returns to a World Cup after missing last year the one hosted by her native Huelva. The Andalusian, seeded fifth, will start against Canadian Wen Yu Zhang.