Events

Christiansen & Daugaard ensure a clean sweep for Denmark in MD
A day of thrills in Kolding
Date: 4/29/2017 1:05 AM
Published by : Mark Phelan
Friday 28th 2017 will go down in the memory of many as one of the great European championships days as the cream of Europe’s elite talent served up a treat of world class entertainment for the packed Sydbank Arena in Kolding, Denmark. 

There was hardly time to draw breath from the moment Christinna Pedersen served the first shuttle of the day to the triumphant celebration of Daugaard and Christiansen as they beat former champions Ivanov & Sozonov on the day 9 European countries guaranteed a spot on the podium. 

Denmark of course ruled the roost as expected. The Danish men’s doubles have dominated and with a completed shut out of the semi-finals have guaranteed themselves all three positions on the podium. Boe & Mogensen got the ball rolling and Astrup and Rasmussen soon followed beating Belgians Dierickx and Golinski. 

The drama from a Danish men’s doubles perspective was reserved for the tail end of the day as defending champions Conrad and Kolding saved no fewer than three match points to send home Olympic bronze medallists Ellis & Langridge of England in a match that lasted 1 hour 20 minutes. 

Denmark also have three of the four semi-final places in the men’s singles with the nearly man of European badminton, Hans Kristian Solberg Vittinghus finally getting the individual medal he so richly deserves. Joining him in the semi-finals are top seed Axelsen, the new kid on the block Antonsen and England’s Rajiv Ouseph who has been outstanding this week. 



Rest of Europe has its say in women’s doubles, mixed and women’s singles

While Denmark have dominated the men’s event this week the rest of Europe has brought the fight to the host nation. French duo Labar and Fontaine saved four match points against Christiansen and Thygesen to stun the Danes and grab themselves an unlikely medal. 

Irish siblings Sam and Chloe Magee created their own little bit of history becoming the first Irish medallists at a European championships as they ended the illustrious career of Mateusiak & Zieba. 

“We knew we could beat them as we have done it before” said Sam Magee after the win. “Ever since I was a young girl my dream was a European medal and now I have got that, I am just finding it very hard to believe right now” said sister Chloe. 

Sabrina Jaquet (pictured above) kept the streak going for the smaller European badminton nations as she came through another epic battle against England’s Fontaine Chapman. The English woman pushed the sixth seed to her limits today and the relief for Jaquet was visual as she broke down in tears after bagging match point in another three game thriller. 

“I cannot believe it. I have won a medal. I have wanted this for so long and worked so hard for it. Fontaine was a great opponent today and the match was a real battle. I will savour this moment for a few hours and come out tomorrow to try and change the colour of the medal” said Jaquet to Badminton Europe. 

Kirsty Gilmour, Mette Poulsen and Olympic champion Carolina Marin round out the semi-finals of the women’s singles as four different countries do
 battle in tomorrow’s semi-finals. 



Similarly the women’s doubles has four different countries represented in the semi-finals. As expected Juhl and Pedersen lead the line and joining them as expected in the semi-finals are the second seeded Stoeva sisters of Bulgaria. The surprise for most is the guaranteed medal for English pair Walker and Smith and Russian pair Chervykova and Morozova (pictured above) . The Danes play the Russians for a final spot while the Bulgarians will be pushed all the way by the ever improving English. 

For all the results from today’s quarter finals in Kolding click HERE

For a photo gallery from the European quarter finals click HERE

Article and images by Mark Phelan (live in Kolding) 



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