Bulgarian women's team: We are happy about the mere fact that we reached the final

Participants of the final matches at the European Men’s and Women’s Championships shared their impression of the tournament.

France’s Brice Leverdez succeded to win the first game against Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, however the Danish players pulled themselves together and eventually beat the French.

“Jan’s game is a game I am comfortable playing against. I was also confident after beating some good players this week and really it was all in with nothing to lose and with my team behind me I manage to get the first point for France,” said Leverdez.

After his teammates’ victory in the doubles, Viktor Axelsen solidified Denmark’s lead by beating Thomas Rouxel.

“I’m glad that I contributed to the national team’s victory. After a loss in the first singles game I wanted to secure a guaranteed victory for my team. And to achieve it is a great accomplishment! I did well in counter attacks. And although we dropped the first game, we have strong players who could fix the situation,” Axelsen commented.

The top spot on the podium for Denmark was secured by the duet of Anders Skaarup Rasmussen/Kim Astrup who managed to defeat France’s Ronan Labar/Julien Maio.

“It really was a great honour to have the opportunity to win the title for Denmark and I am almost speechless now knowing we have done it,” said Rasmussen on claiming the title. “This one is for Carsten (Mogensen) and we are proud to win this title for him this week.”

In the women’s competition, Denmark put a pressure on the Bulgariuan team from the outset. In the first game, Line Kjaersfeldt gained an upper hand over Linda Zetchiri.

“I’m glad that I earned a point for Denmark,” noted Kjaersfeldt. “I hope that it will lift some pressure off our team. I didn’t show my best performance this week but I fought the best I could. We have a strong team. If I had lost, my teammates would have corrected the run of play.”

Kjaersfeldt’s efforts were pursued by Anna Thea Madsen who proved to be stronger in the game against Petya Nedelcheva.

“I did my best to stay calm and to follow my coach’s instructions. Of course, in the final each player performs to the best of their abilities but by the end of the tournament all players reached their limit. Prior to the final, Bulgaria played two matches and we played only one so it took its toll,” Madsen admitted.

Having defeated Mette Poulsen, Stefani Stoeva brought back some intrigue to the Denmark-Bulgaria match, but the Danish team collected themselves and thrashed the rivals to pieces.

“Coaches asked me to play accurately and aggressively and this helped,” Stoeva explained. “Yes, Denmark is the tournament favourite but our badminton players are happy about the mere fact that we reached the final. We decided that we will simply enjoy the game. Silver medals are a good result for us.”