Events

Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue (France), in action at the European Games (credit: Badminton Photo)
Group of death concludes
Date: 6/27/2019 11:48 AM
Published by : Aidan Jones (BEC)
This morning has brought the excitement from Group D to an end, as the pairs from France and Ireland have advanced to the knockout stage.

The group with three pairs inside the top 40 in the World Rankings competing against each other proved to be the group of death and had all of the properties.

The French top the group

Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue went into this match knowing that they could exit the tournament at the group stage if they did not win.

The first game did not go to plan for the number four seeds as they narrowly lost to Evenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova, 19-21.

At this point, it was clear, that if the Russian pair won the second, France would be out, before another twist in the tail. France won the second 21-11.

Going into the all-important third game of the match, both pairs still had a chance, and in another tight contest, this time the French pair edged it and won 21-19.

- I was nervous at every point, they put a lot of pressure on us, and the crowd was against us as well so it was a thriller, Thom Gicquel said.

- We knew we had to win this one, there were not so many calculations, our only option was to win, Gicquel added.

The pair will now face the Bulgarian pair Alex Vlaar and Mariya Mitsova in the quarterfinals of the European Games.

Ireland through in second place

Sam and Chloe Magee could not have asked for much better from themselves today as they knew they had to win in straight games which the duly did.

The Irish pair beat Aliaksei Konakh and Krestina Silich in straight games (9-21, 11-21) to advance to the knockout stages.

- It has been in our heads what is going on and how it works but all we had to focus on today getting the 2-0 win against Belarus, Chloe Magee said.

- I know that sounds easier than it is but playing Belarus in Belarus can be tricky, so we focused on that, and we got the two sets, she added.

The number 37 in the World Rankings will now face Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek in the quarterfinals of the Games. Arguably one of the tougher matches they could have wished for.
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