In the initial group-play round, Ruby & Emma were drawn into group H, along with pairs from Estonia, Malaysia and host nation Thailand, a group from which our Canadian young ladies advanced to the next round, based on their 1st place finish with 2 wins within their group.
For our readers, it should be pointed out that, prior to arriving in Thailand two days earlier, Ruby & Emma hadn’t had any opportunity to practice together since mid-August as, in the interim, both entered their 1st year of university studies in the USA: Ruby at Stanford in California, and Emma at TCU in Texas. Thus, after this extremely long hiatus, they only had a chance to briefly practice together again one day before start of the actual competition commenced.
However, following this pitfall, Ruby & Emma’s teamplay started to flow more smoothly, resulting in two subsequent clear victories over the Malaysian pair, Aina & Auni…
It was, therefore, somewhat understandable that during their first match in group-play versus the Estonian duo, Kuivonen & Jürgenson, Ruby & Emma’s game appeared to be a bit “rusty”. Thus, they had to settle for a narrow defeat, 0:2 (17-21, 19:21). However, following this pitfall, Ruby & Emma’s teamplay started to flow more smoothly, resulting in two subsequent clear victories over the Malaysian pair, Aina & Auni, 2:0 (21:14, 21:14), and then, host Thailand duo, Patcharaporn & Suchinna, 2:0 (21:15, 21:13), ensuring their advancement directly to the playoff “Round of 16”!
In their “Round of 16” matchup, Ruby & Emma drew the strong Ukrainian duo, Serdiuk & Udovenko. In what was anticipated to be a tough, even match proved to be quite the opposite – a decisive, one-sided victory for our Canadian duo, 2:0 (21:11, 21:13), advancing Ruby & Emma into the quarter-finals (round of 8)!
In a hard-fought match, Ruby & Emma had to finally concede defeat to the Swiss…
Under a Saturday noon-day sun, our young Canadian duo faced off in their quarterfinal game against the Swiss pair, Kernen & Niederhauser. In a hard-fought match, Ruby & Emma had to finally concede defeat to the Swiss, 0:2 (17:21, 17:21), and for our young ladies, the door to the semifinals closed.
In review, Ruby & Emma accomplished an excellent 5th place finish at this year’s U21 World Championships, which earned them a place among the world’s best! That they did so at the young age of 18 means that in two years, they remain eligible to compete once again for top spot at the U21 Worlds in 2025!
Congratulations, Ruby & Emma! Well done!
