European Universities Games: Mathieu Pohl, Lukas Schmidt march into Men’s Doubles semi-finals
European Universities Games-Badminton Individual Tournament got its second semi-finalist when Mathieu Pohl-Lukas Schmidt overwhelmed Mohamed Belarbi-William Goudallier in quarter-finals on July 16, 2012.
This crucial match lasted for 62 minutes before ending with concluding margin of 14-21, 21-16 and 21-15.
The victorious German duo played with great precision and mesmerised the crowd in Rafael Lozano badminton arena of Córdoba, Spain.
They showed commendable fighting spirit and stood tall despite going down in the opening game of the match.
Meanwhile, Belarbi and William failed to continue with their top form and faced a woeful exit after losing two consecutive sets in the end.
The French campaigners took off in perfect manner and cruised to victory in very first set.
They set the ball rolling with four consecutive points straight away in the beginning and then dominated overall pace of the game until the last moment.
After 6-2 score, they mounted pressure by reaching at dominating position of 9-4 and then finished first half with a respectable total of 11-6.
Later part of the game started with an unexpected development as Mathieu-Lukas stepped forward at top speed and narrowed the gap with 12-10.
However, their supremacy was short lived as Belarbi and William reinstated their dominance in the final stage of game. They pocketed nine out of ending 13 points and placed a winning margin of 21-14.
Both teams made competitive efforts to achieve their respective goals in the following set but it ended in the Germans favour.
The twosome of Mathieu-Lukas, who represents University of Saarland, had a cautious start after receiving severe blow in first set.
They kept trailing behind until 5-7 but then giant leap of six consecutive points took them to 11-7 before interval.
Though, they lost focus in third quarter of the game which resulted in 14-13 but couple of uninterrupted rallies helped them to survive this tussle with decisive figure of 21-16.
Third set proved interesting just until half time as both contenders were poles apart in terms of performance in second part of the decider.
Mathieu and Lukas were standing at 11-9 score position before the break but they made difference with a mountainous total of 21-15.
Now they will lock horns with Mikhail Loktev-Vadim Novoselov in Men's Doubles semi-finals of the event.
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