Denmark beats Sweden to surge into quarter-finals: European Men’s and Women’s Team Championships
Denmark’s young shuttlers are shining at the European Men’s and Women’s Team Championships as they beat Sweden to take their country right into the quarter-finals of the event.
The top teams will also qualify for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals to be held in Wuhan, China, this May.
Despite the absence of their prime shuttler World Number four Peter Gade, who preffered to stay back and sweat hard for the All England Open set to be held next month, Denmark is still the favourite to rise as champions. So far, the young shuttlers have
won convincingly against Scotland and Sweden, claiming top position in their group.
Today, in the first Singles match against Sweden, Danish shuttler Hans-Kristian Vittinghus defeated his Swedish competitor Henri Hurskainen in just 30 minutes with a 21-14 and 21-14 score on the board.
The duo of Mads Conard Petersen and Jonas Rasmussen then thrashed Swedish pair of Patrick Lundqvist and Jonathan Nordh, taking the lead to 2-0.
In the next encounter, Viktor Axelsen sealed victory by outclassing his Swedish opponent Mathias Borg with an effortless margin of 21-14 and 21-4. Axelsen looked in prime touch as it took him few minutes to overpower his challenger.
In last two trivial games Rasmus Bonde and Anders Kristiansen hunt down Sweden’s doubles team Nico Ruponen and Magnus Sahlberg before Rasmus Fladberg won against Mikael Westerback, ending the show with 5-0 victory.
Former world junior champion Viktor Axelsen also played a vital role to give Denmark a perfect start at Amsterdam in the European Men’s and Women’s Team Championships.
In their first match of group A, the Danes clearly overcame Scotland when they nailed their challengers with distinctive margin of 5-0. It seemed that Scotland were unable to overcome their demoralising 4-1 defeat against Sweden as the squad was unable to
put up any sort of resistance against their Danish opponents.
Vittinghus set the foundation for Denmark when he thrashed Kieran Merrilees with final score of 14-21, 21-16 and 21-8. Mads Conrad Petersen-Jonas Rasmussen took the lead to 2-0 with a 21-13, 21-7 victory over Martin Campbell-Angus Gilmour.
On the other hand, Viktor Axelsen’s show turned out to be last nail in the coffin as he ousted Gordon Hoggan with an effortless score of 21-11and 21-12.
The duo of Rasmus Bonde and Anders Kristiansen made it 4-0 for Denmark as they defeated Scotland’s Doubles team of Jamie Neill-Paul Van Rietvelde with a 21-16 and 21-19 score on the board.
Fladberg sealed victory with a 21-15 and 21-18 win over Calum Menzies, ensuring the Danes a comprehensive 5-0 triumph. With the performance the Danish squad has put forward in the current event, it seems that the team is ready to perform well against more
dominant nations in the world of badminton.
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