Croatian Open 2024
10th Croatian Open G1 – Silver for Anna Schneeberger
Saturday, 12 October, it was that time again in Zagreb. Forty-one athletes from 18 nations competed in the women's U30 category to win the coveted medals in this highly competitive G1 tournament. At the same time, it was the penultimate ranking tournament before the World Championships in Hong Kong. The field of participants was therefore correspondingly high-calibre.
Thanks to Anna's ranking (No. 8), she had a bye in the first round. Then she started in round 2 against Mia Knuttson from Finland. She cleared the first hurdle practically in warm-up mode. Then, in round 3, she faced a tougher opponent in Dutch player Helene Hu. But Anna, who was extremely focused in this tournament, won this round with ease.
Round 4 brought us a surprise in the form of Alicia Winkenbach, a highly talented Swiss player. That meant it was time to roll up our sleeves. But this round also went clearly to Anna.
In round 5, things got serious. With Alejandra Higueros from Guatemala, ranked number 4 in the world, there was still a score to settle from Sao Paulo in Brazil last year. The first round went to the Guatemalan, but with a personal best performance in round two, Anna defeated Alejandra – who, incidentally, is also a good friend of hers in private – and thus marched into the grand final.
Waiting for her was none other than Eva Sandersen from Denmark, world champion and undisputed number one in the world rankings. It was a repeat of the 2024 Austrian Open final in Vienna. Both athletes pulled out all the stops in a closely contested match that was enthusiastically followed by the audience. In the end, the Dane won, but more narrowly than expected and deservedly so. This meant second place and the silver medal for Anna!
Summary:
Fact 1: The training over the last few weeks brought about the desired physical and mental development and enabled Anna to deliver this performance in the first place, allowing her to reach the final.
Fact 2: Second place in this G1 tournament was absolutely necessary in order to defend their position as number 8.
Fact 3: Thanks to the successes of India's Rupa Bayor (new number 9) at the two G2 tournaments in Australia in August, the Korean-Indian player came uncomfortably close to Anna, trailing by just 0.46 points. In addition, Diyanah Aqidah from Singapore, a familiar face from our trips to Asia, is another rival who is rapidly catching up.
This sets up a final showdown next weekend, where the Indian and Singaporean players will compete in the G1 tournament in Jakarta, while Anna will be in action at the Belgian Open G2 tournament. As Anna will lose a few world ranking points from last year in October, it was necessary to compensate for this with success in Croatia in order to keep the race for the important 8th place open.
These are the last two G tournaments before the World Cup, and eighth place is necessary to have even the slightest chance of a top ten finish. So far, over 100 countries have already nominated players for this World Cup, and with the extremely strong Asian women, there is already a seemingly insurmountable phalanx ante portas. It remains exciting!
