Italy’s Rosario Maddaloni who is ranked 102 in the world caused an upset when he ended Jan Frolich’s hopes of defending the Uganda International Badminton championships, a title he attained in 2011.
Rosario who was unseeded for this tournament made his intentions clear from the onset when he won the first set by 21:17. Frolich, all the way from Czech Republic and seeded eighth for this tournament fought back to take the second by 21:19 and level the match at one a piece.
The third and decisive set will perhaps go down as the play of
the day as the two players exchanged leads and hung onto everything possible to win. Gasping and clapping could be heard in the crowd every time either of the players took a point. The match that could have gone to any of the two eventually went into a nerve wrecking deuce with the Italian who fell to his knees at the end finishing on top with 25:23.