Events

All too easy for seeded teams on day 1
Date: 3/22/2013 12:07 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler
The 2013 European Junior Team Championships kicked off this morning in Ankara Turkey and it didn’t take long for all the seeded teams to find their collective rhythm as the eased into the competition with easy first day victories.

Top seeds Denmark were first on court and wasted no time in asserting their dominance against a galant Welsh outfit who were simply outclassed in a 5-0 win. The Danes are obviously keen to get off on the best footing and looked completely focused as they embarked on their journey to regain the title they lost in Finland two years ago.
 
Best opening dance contest was won by France

The French team took the prize for the best opening dance of these 2013 team championships and followed up their theatrics with an Oscar winning demolition of Lithuania 5-0. The young French chargers look to have a strength in depth and their mixed doubles pairing of Tran and Kersaudy look like a real championship pairing for the future.

Home nation Turkey were one of the few teams that had two matches on opening day and the sight and noise generated by 2500 school children for the Turks opening morning session match was a sight to behold.

The Turks, lead by Neslihan Yigit playing in both singles and doubles, took down Cyprus in the morning sessions before denting Belgium’s chances of progressing as Yigit once again pulled the strings in the Turks 4-1 win.
Team Netherlands (pictured) look to have unearthed a new singles star in the form of Justin Teeuwen. The young Dutch boy looks very comfortable on the singles court and as part of a well-balanced Dutch team might have the armoury to create an upset once we hit the knockout stages of the tournament.

England looked most vulnerable

Of all the seeded teams on show today it was England who looked most vulnerable. Chloe Birch got an opening women’s singles scare against Maja Pavlinic. The Croatian took the opening game 21-12 before the English girl finally found some rhythm and managed to take the game in three games. Women’s doubles pairing of Moore and Williams were also taken to three sets and only came through by the skin of their teeth in the deciding set 22-20. Team England eventually came good to win 5-0 but will certainly have to take their team game to the next level if they want to feature in the medals.

Group two has been somewhat diluted with the forced withdrawal of team Norway who got wrapped up in the airline strike by their carrier Lufthansa en route to Ankara. Somewhat unfortunate for Norway but Estonia proved that they might be the surprise packet in the group as they caused a minor upset beating Austria 3-2. Top seeds Russia had a day off as a result of Norway’s withdrawal but judging by today’s performances with will have little to fear from either Austria or Estonia.

Switzerland vs. Poland closest match of the day

On an individual level Czech number one Adam Mendrek suffered an unlikely defeat in the opening game of his Czech Republic team match against European minnows Israel. The second seed for the individual event lost out in two sets to Daniel Chislov. Mendrek was able to make up for the singles loss soon after in the men’s doubles but the men’s singles loss this early to someone he would expect to beat must be a cause for concern for the Czech player. 

The closest match of the day was thrashed out between Switzerland and Poland with both teams diving the spoils in the opening four matches. It was the Swiss who eventually came through in the deciding women’s doubles but both will have to show a marked improvement if they are to challenge France to the top spot of the group.

For all results from todays play click HERE
For photo gallery from today’s play follow Badminton Europe on Facebook by clicking HERE
Follow Badminton Europe on Twitter for news from Ankara by clicking HERE

Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Ankara)
©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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