Entering the Vantaa court this Friday in Finland, Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel carried on their shoulders the weight of a first qualification for the final of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships. We were at 2-2 in this semi-final between France and Russia, and the French mixed double did not necessarily have the psychological advantage: in five games, he had never won against the pair Davletova -Alimov, who had won again in straight sets in pool on Wednesday.
The young Frenchmen however succeeded in putting an end to the domination of their adversaries and their first was also that of a whole group: in the dance of the partners who rushed on the ground to celebrate them under the strobes, there was all the joy of a team that writes its history.
For that, it was therefore necessary that Delphine Delrue and Thom Gicquel succeed in a great match. This was not quite the case in the first set, where they narrowly missed in important points, but a remarkable defense and controlled tactics then allowed the 13th world to fly over the debates (18-21, 21- 15, 21-9).
The long fights of Toma Popov and the duo Tran-Palermo
Between the first shuttlecock played in the opening match by Xuefei Qi in women’s singles and the last point in the mixed, nearly six hours will have passed this Friday, an illustration of the fierce matches that were held near Helsinki.
If Xuefei Qi lost in two sets (19-21, 14-21), Toma Popov brought the first point after 1h32 of fighting in men’s singles against Vladimir Malkov (14-21, 21-17, 21-15). The women’s doubles had an equally long duel (1h34) against Davletova-Kosetskaya and Anne Tran and Lea Palermo came out of it by raising their arms, after a third high level set (21-18, 23-25, 21-11).
Dominated 13-21, 10-21, the men’s double Ronan Labar – Julian Maio could do nothing against Ivanov and Sozonov, who form one of the most efficient pairs on the circuit (16th in the world). But the adventure continues for the Blues who continue their path into the unknown: while they had never played a semi-final in their history in mixed, here they are at a meeting of a European title. This Saturday (from 2 p.m.), it will be necessary to beat Denmark, favorite of the competition despite its reorganized team and which was difficult to defeat Germany in the other semi-final (3-2).
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