Group 2 of the European Mixed Team Championships Qualifications gets underway on the 7thDecember. The qualification stage will take place in seven different countries from the 6-9 December to find out which sides will make it to next year’s finals in Denmark.
The honour of hosting Group 2 has gone to underdogs Moldova. They’ll be joined in Group 2 by Scotland, Ukraine and favourites Russia.
Two team matches will take place across each of the three days with the eventual winners of the group going on to compete at the finals in Copenhagen on the 13-17 February.
First team matches on Friday
Group 2 matches are taking place at the Futsal Arena FMF Sports Complex in Ciorescu. The hosts Moldova begin their campaign with a match against Russia, with Scotland taking on Ukraine in the opening round of matches.
Find the draws for Saturday and Sunday here
Strong Doubles line-up for Russia
The Russians come into this tournament as favourites and will be looking towards their doubles pairings to fire their way to the finals.
Alina Davletova and Ekaterina Bolotova are a formidable pair in the Women’s doubles. The pair currently sit 27thin the World Rankings and won the Hungarian International Championships at the start of November.
Davletova and Rodion Alimov are now ranked as high as 47 in the World Rankings in the mixed doubles as well, whilst Ivan Sozonov and Vladamir Ivanov pose a considerable threat in the men’s doubles after reaching the Semi-Finals in the Syed Modi International last week.
Who’s been selected?
Scotland and Ukraine have chosen relatively small teams for the qualifiers. Scotland have included just eight players (4 men and 4 women) whilst Ukraine have just six (3 men and 3 women) travelling to Moldova.
Scotland will be looking to Kirsty Gilmour to lead them to success after she retained her Women’s singles title at the Scottish Open last week.
Eleven of Moldova’s finest will get the chance to represent their country on home soil (8 men and 3 women) but it’s Russia who have the most players in Group 6 with a team of 13 (7 men and 6 women).
Check out the full list of players here:
Russia
Moldova
Ukraine
Scotland