The Spanish badminton team took a giant step forward to be in the Mixed Team European Championships after defeating Portugal 4-1 on Friday. Following Wednesday’s 5-0 win over Ukraine, the Spanish team will play this Saturday against Scotland their presence in the final phase of the tournament, which will be held from February 15 to 21 in Vantaa (Finland).
In the first game of the day Luis Enrique Peñalver added the first point for Spain after defeating Duarte Nuno Anjo in straight sets by 21-14 and 21-11.
The next to hit the track was Beatriz Corrales and the Madrilenian did not fail in her match against Adriana Gonçalves, whom he also defeated in two sets by 21-9 and 21-11.
In the men’s doubles match, Pablo Abián and Alberto Zapico went through various difficulties to defeat the Portuguese Bruno Carvalho and Tomás Nero. The Portuguese duo took the first set by 19-21, but Abián and Zapico managed to react in the next two by 21-14 and 21-16 to win the match.
They also achieved victory in the women’s doubles Clara Azurmendi and Lorena Uslé, who beat the Portuguese duo formed by Sonia and Adriana Gonçalves in straight sets by 21-14 and 21-15.
Spain could not achieve the full triumphs since, in the last match, the mixed doubles, the pair formed by Alex Alcalá and Paula López fell 21-17 and 21-14 against the Portuguese duo formed by Bernardo Atilano and Mariana Chang.
This Saturday Spain wants to close its ticket to the European and this goes through a victory against the Scotland team, led by Kirsty Gilmour and who has also won all of his heats in this qualifying round.
