EMWTC 2018: Denmark men's and women's teams crowned European сhampions
The European Men’s and Women’s Team Championships concluded in the capital city of Tatarstan. No sensation this time again. Both the women’s and men’s teams of Denmark stood up for the European crowns. Though, the Danes had to work hard in order to defend the title of the strongest teams of Europe. Also, the final matches of the European U15 Championships were held on the last competition day. According to the results, Team Russia earned the biggest number of medals (9 out of 20).
The competition day started with the women’s final, Denmark vs Germany. Both teams reached the decisive match with no pains. Each team had won three matches in their groups. At the playoff stage the Danes ousted Team England and Team Russia from the tournament, and the Germans beat Team France and Team Spain. By the way, Denmark and Germany had already taken part in the competitions in Kazan. At the previous European Championships in 2016, these powerhouses met in the semifinal. Now they had to compete for the gold medals of the European Championships. The match started quite unexpectedly. As the day before in the semifinal, Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark lost her match and her team had to chase the game. Her teammates improved the situation soon. At first, number three of the world ranking, Cristinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter-Juhl, confidently defeated Isabel Herttrich/Olga Konon. In this match the Germans fought rather mechanically because there was little chance to stop the Danish machine. Line Kjaersfeldt (Denmark) vs Luise Heim (Germany) turned out to be the key match. The former player took the lead from the very start, but unexpectedly began to make errors in the end of the debut game. Heim took advantage of her opponent’s nervousness and managed to take the lead. The Danish athlete reacted to this mishap in a flash and won two games in a row with a wide margin, 2-1. The next match ended with the same score. That was the last chance for Team Germany to change the course. In the first game, Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte of Germany struggled hard and lost only two points (19-21), but failed to challenge the opponents with the same tough competition in the second game. Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen of Denmark came out victorious in two games and brought the seventh gold of the European Championships in succession to their team. Nobody could outplay the Danish women’s team in the history of this tournament. Team Russia and Team Spain enjoyed the bronze medals.
The European U15 decisive matches were held concurrently with the women’s final. In this tournament the Russian national team surprised everyone. The host team took 9 medals out of 20, 3 of them were gold. In the final of the women’s singles, Maria Golubeva was stronger than Lida Curtin of England, pairs Elizaveta Baranova and Sofia Bychkova defeated another Russian duo, Ekaterina Kazantseva and Ekaterina Tarasova. Team Russia became gold once more in the mixed doubles. Both pairs represented Russia. Egor Borisov and Maria Golubeva came out stronger than Maksim Oglobin and Elizaveta Malkova. Alex Lanier of France had no equal in the men’s singles. Jacob Howe and Cristian Kjaer were on the winning side in the men’s doubles.
The men’s final between the best team of the world, Team Denmark, and badminton players from the Foggy Albion became a cherry on top of the European Championships in Kazan. Rajiv Ouseph of England vs Anders Antonsen of Denmark were the first to appear on court. Ouseph did an excellent job in the debut game and nearly hammered his opponent with 21-12. The 20-year-old Scandinavian recovered in time, won the second game and made the decisive set take place. The neck-and-neck competition lasted quite a long time, but the Englishman lost two points in a row at the score of 18-18. This was the key moment. Ouseph could win back a point, but hit the shuttle out of the court in the next rally, thus helping his opponent to celebrate the victory. Pair Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Kolding gained the second victory. The outcome of their match was predictable. Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge from England put up a good fight only in the first game, which ended 18-21. The Danes were sure to take the next game and put the opponent in a quite difficult position, leaving no room for mistake for Team England. The English player Sam Parsons came out on court to improve the situation in the duel against Emil Holst. If the Dane had won, he would have earned the title of the European champions for his team. Probably this fact put pressure on the Scandinavian so that he lost two games in succession and kept the intrigue in the competition. His loss inspired the English team and demonstrated that it was possible to fight against the Danish team on equal terms. Peter Briggs and Sean Vendy from England proved that. This pair played the fourth match against Kim Astrup and Mathias Christiansen. The English won the first game with two-point lead (21-19). The Danish players won the second game with the same score. The latter game was much tougher. Astrup/Christiansen settled the score, 29-27. The next game was decisive for both teams. The victory of the English would have continued the match, while the defeat made Team Denmark the European champion. Briggs and Vendy were broken down with the defeat in the second set and eventually lost the third game (4-11). In the end, the Danes finished the game and the match with a victory securing the seventh title of the European сhampion.