Phew! The French avoided the trap that presented itself to them this Tuesday in Vantaa (Finland), for the opening of the European mixed team championship. They who aim to bring home a medal for the first time, were jostled until the decisive match by the Dutch.
Led 1-0 after the men’s singles, they were able to count on an impeccable Xuefei Qi (21-14, 21-7) to equalize. “I arrived on the court confident. I facilitated the meeting by pushing my opponent to make a mistake, ”declared the badiste of BC Rostrenen, on the site of the French Federation.
The Blues took the advantage thanks to the men’s double but the Netherlands came back to height (2-2) after the women’s double. It was therefore up to Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue (N.13 world) to compete in a mixed gold against Tabeling – Piek (N.17). Winners of their only confrontation, during the previous EMTC in 2019, the “Orange” forced the Breton and the Ile-de-France to get out the big game (21-18, 10-21, 21-19) to pocket the bet. A victory with a necessarily special flavor for Thom Gicquel, whose mother is Dutch!
On Wednesday, the French will face the Russians, who corrected a young English team 5-0, for a game no doubt decisive for the win of the pool, the first two teams qualifying for the semi-finals.
