Gicquel/Delrue: Golden Trailblazers

France can celebrate their first-ever BWF World Championships gold after Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue outplayed top seeds Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping in a tactical masterclass: 22-20 19-21 21-15.

It is Europe’s first gold in a paired event since 2009 – incidentally, also in India — when Denmark’s Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter-Juhl won the title.

The French completely took Huang out of the equation at the net, and even dared to flick-serve Feng from time to time. In fact, it was a flick serve on match point that finally delivered the historic moment for France.

“A lot of emotion, really, really happy and super proud to win the first gold for France,” said Delrue. “It was an amazing match, both pairs played really well, and we had to try a lot for a win. It’s amazing to hear the national anthem on the podium for the first time.”

“We’re thinking, it’s amazing to be between two Chinese flags,” said Gicquel. “When you are 10 years old you don’t really think that can happen, and it’s really hard to believe, actually. It’s really important for French badminton.”