LINZ. The Olympic Center Linz was one of four venues for the Mixed Team European Championship preliminary round.
The Austrian national badminton team, led by Head Coach Kent Madsen from Denmark, started as an outsider in the group as No. 19 in the European team ranking behind the Czech Republic (No. 18), Slovakia (No. 11) and Holland (No. 2) . With two 3-2 successes over the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria was able to secure second place in the group.
Dutch too strong
Not too much was missing for an absolute sensation. However, you had to recognize the superiority of the favored Dutch in the 1: 4 defeat. The Dutch are among the medal candidates at the European Championship finals every year and are current bronze medal winners. It is gratifying that with Wolfgang Gnedt, Kathi Hochmeir and Kai Niederhuber, three players from OÖBV were in the squad for the national team. The final round will take place in Finland in February 2021. If you want to see the games again, you can watch them in full here.
Inspiration for the young
“I believe that with this event we have created the basis for a better badminton future in Upper Austria and Austria. Despite the corona pandemic, we wanted to give the players a chance to show what they can do and to show how attractive our sport can be. That should be a great inspiration for our offspring. Big thanks go to Sportland Upper Austria, who made this event possible in the first place, and of course also to the numerous employees of our regional association, ”said regional trainer Peter Zauner about the event.
