English and German Men’s Doubles have big ambitions at the 2019 European Games.

Marvin Seidel and Mark Lamsfuss, Germany, were off to a good start winning in straight games, 21-16 21-15, against Philip Birker and Dominik Stipsits from Austria.

- It was a solid performance. Not the best we can play, but it was okay, Marvin Seidel said.

German self-confidence
The Germans are seeded four at the 2019 European Games, and there is no doubt that they are aiming for a big result.

- I want to win this tournament. A medal would be fine, but the main goal is to win the European Games, Mark Lamsfuss said.

- We beat two of the three seeded pairs already and we believe in ourselves that we can do this, Seidel adds.

Multi-games veterans
In Group B the second seeds, Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge, won 21-11 21-13 against Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds.

Ellis and Langridge have a good history at multi-sport events winning a bronze medal at the Olympics in 2016 and winning the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

- You are in a bubble at a multi-sport event. It is easy to get distracted, but me and Marcus have been to a few events like this now, so we know what to do and not to do, Chris Langridge said.

An open category
Danish Anders Skaarup and Kim Astrup are the top seed in the Men’s Doubles, but the opinion of Chris Langridge is, that it is hard to predict who is going to claim the title in Minsk.

- There are pairs that can perform higher than they are ranked. It is going to be an interesting category, Langridge said.

- We have performed on the big stages when it matters, and hopefully we can do the same this week. We are the second seed here, and if we come away without a medal, we will be very disappointed. It is the “A goal” to get to the semi-final. When you reach that stage of the tournament the pairs are quite equally matched and from there we have to take it day-by-day, Ellis adds.

Get all the results from the 2019 European Games here