Karolina Kotte, Kristina Roman move into semi-finals of European Universities Games 2012
Women’s Doubles experts Karolina Kotte and Kristina Roman secured honour to be in semi-finals of European Universities Games-Badminton Individual Tournament on July 16, 2012.
They intercepted Erika Noreikaite-Indre Stareviciute of Lithuania by registering favourable result of 17-21 21-19 and 22-20.
This battle remained in full swing for 40 minutes in Rafael Lozano badminton arena of Córdoba, Spain and both contenders played their heart out to lock the honour.
The triumphant Swedish duo employed unbeatable strategy and remain invincible also in round of eight.
Now they will be up against talented German girls Kim Buss and Inken Wienefeld in second last round of this event.
Karolina and Kristina, who are playing for University of Stockholm, will surely utilise their confidence which they have earned by sealing a splendid 2-1 win against the twosome of Erika-Indre in the quarter-finals.
They were bit sluggish and could not pick the bird early in first set which ultimately cost them a vital match point.
The opposing shuttlers did not miss this opportunity and kept them busy in just returning their well-placed strokes.
Erika and Indre established their grip with 11-6 margin before half time and then raised their total to 16-11 in third quarter of the set.
They capitalised this advantage and placed a significant margin of 21-17 at the end of the opening game.
However, this first set loss did not harm Karolina and Kristina as they managed to keep the contest alive by clinching very next match point.
The Swedish players did not show any sign of confusion and displayed great coordination in first half of the second game.
They maintained a respectable distance of two points until 11-9 before mid-game break and then widened the gap with three nonstop rallies immediately after the interval.
Their rivals could not come out of this deficit and surrendered after reading 21-19 score on the board.
The decider was the best part of the match as both teams strived hard to avoid a woeful exit. They remained toe-to-toe all the way to game point situation.
They were locked in tense situation of 20-20 when Karolina and Kristina tipped the scale in their favour with a tight yet decisive total of 22-20.
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