Competition is hard at this year’s Yonex Denmark Open and the seeds and profiles were eager to show their commitment in the hunt for Olympic points at the tournament’s first round.

Lin Dan is almost as big a star as Peter Gade in Denmark and Chinese Lin Dan was determined to take home the victory in his firste match and won 21-14 / 21-13. Lin Dan also had a few words for the atmosphere and the crowd.

- Denmark open is one of my favorite tournaments as I can see the Danish audience being very enthusiastic and I really enjoy the atmosphere here.

Chen long seeded 3 has the chance to take home the hat-trick and join an elite group as he earlier this year won Japan Open and China Open. However the first match was not all that convincing and Chen long lost his first set 19-21 to Wan Ho Shon, ranked 24. Chen did improve and won in the end but if he wants his hattrick he will have to pick up his game.

 Chen Jin seeded 6 also won his match 23-21 / 21-14. This means that China’s three biggest players are all on to the next round.

Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia who is seeded one also won his against Kashyap Parupalli 21-11/ 21-13 and earned his seed as no.1

Danish success and surprises

Peter Gade who announced that this would be the last Denmark Open played his first match against Zhengming Wang, a Chinese talent who has achieved great results and on paper a difficult match. In reality – he was no match for Peter Gade who won 21-13 / 21-10 and moved on to the second round.

Victor takes another win from Polish Przemyslaw Wacha in a convincing game winning 21-15 21-15. With the applauds and shouts Viktor received there could be no doubt that this is a player with a home crowd.

Watch interview with Viktor here

 Defending champion Jan Ø Jørgensen played against Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif in a confident and aggressive match that ended 21-16/ 21-10.

- It was a great game, the opener is always difficult but I played some good badminton and I am happy with my performance but will do better tomorrow.

Hans Kristian Vittinghus drew the short straw and had to face 5 seeded Taufik Hidayat. 18-21/ 22-20/ 21-19 and Vittinghus lost but played an entertaining match and surprised. Here at Badminton Denmark we have this game as match of the day. Vittinghus did not feel he did his best but entertaining wise the audience got their money’s worth.

Among the women in single was Danish Tine Baun who met Larisa Griga and won 21-13 21-5 showing of the routine.