Badminton – Badminton. Mixed Euro: France takes its revenge and goes to the final! [Vidéo]

European Mixed Team Championship in Vantaa (Finland)

While the draw for the group exit had put the Russians back on their way, the French wrote a new page in the history of tricolor badminton by qualifying for the final this Saturday against Denmark, big favorite and winner. Germany’s 3-2.

Preserved in the last group match against the English, Xuefei Qi (N.39) returned to the court for a third career duel against Kosetskaya (N.21). After two hotly contested victories, the badiste of BC Rostrenen unfortunately folded (19-21, 14-21) against the player of Kazan, letting slip the only point won by the Blues in pool (defeat 4-1).

Qi’s partners were therefore going to have to pull out all the stops to stay in the race for the final. What was doing the eldest Poppov, Toma, who found his winner on Wednesday, Malkov. Once again, the match was hotly contested but, after two defeats, the Aixois emerged victorious from the court (14-21, 21-17, 21-15).

At 1-1, the women’s double was something new, compared to the group match, since Léa Palermo replaced Emilie Lefel alongside Anne Tran, while the Russians changed teams altogether. A tactical choice that paid off for the staff of the Blues since the French brought a second point (21-18, 23-25, 21-11).

Gicquel and Delrue offer each other their bête noire

For the last two meetings, the coaches did not change anything. For the first of the two “final meetings”, Ronan Labar and Julien Maio, after having wavered the world No. 16 in pools, suffered the law of the last finalists of the Danish Open (13-21, 10-21) .

Everything was going to be played out on the mixed and rested, on the French side, on the shoulders of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue. Particularly in good shape at the start of 2021, the Breton and the Ile-de-France nevertheless had a hell of a challenge to face against a pair that they had never beaten in five confrontations! A “bête noire” which started with a beating pace to take control of this decisive match (18-21). But Davletova, who had just played three rounds a few minutes earlier in women’s doubles, was she going to go the distance while the triple French champions logically equalized one round everywhere? The answer was not long in coming as Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue escaped in a last one-way round and composted the ticket, long awaited by a generation without complex, for the final on Saturday against Denmark, winner of twelve of the 13 latest editions of EMTC.

“We were much more enterprising than in the group game on Wednesday, analyzed Thom Gicquel. I told myself that we had to advance in the court to have the attack. We showed that we were there. Even with the loss of the first set, we had the advantage in points. “

The games

0-1. Xuefei Qi (N.39)-Evgenya Kosetskaya (N.21) 21-19, 21-14.
1-1. Tom Popov (N.49) – Vladimir Malkov (N.77) 14-21, 21-17, 21-15.
2-1. Palermo/Tran (Unclassified)-Davletova/Kosetskaya (NC) 21-18, 23-25, 21-11.

2-2. Labar / Maio (N.1 348) – Ivanov / Sozonov (N.16) 13-21, 10-21.

3-2. Gicquel/Delrue (N.13) – Alimov/Davletova (N.21) 18-21, 21-15, 21-9.

All badminton news