Spanish badminton has its sights set on the qualifying phase for the European Team Championship, which will take place this Thursday in Oberkirch (Switzerland). The national team led by Arturo Ruiz and coach Manu Vázquez, with Carolina Marín as its banner, travels with the objective of finishing as the first classified in Group 3, which would give them the ticket for the final phasewhich is reserved for the eight best teams on the continent.
Carolina Marín leads the call for an expedition that has already headed for Swiss lands with Bea Corrales, Clara Azurmendi, Ania Setién, Lucía Rodríguez, Kike Peñalver, Joan Monroy, Carlos Piris and Rubén García. The woman from Huelva will join the team this Thursday. Along with the technicians and athletes, the physio Alberto Gallego also travels.
“Carolina’s participation will bring us her experience and competitive level“says Ernesto García, who, with the inclusion of several young players, seeks to “give them experience and responsibility”. “It is about consolidating a group of athletes who work together and continuously in the CAR of Madrid, while qualifying for us for the final phase of the European Mixed Team Championship to be held in France in February 2023”.
Along the same lines, the sports director of the Spanish Badminton Federation (FESBA) and head of the Madrid CAR, Arturo Ruiz, explains that “the doubles will be played by the players who are training specifically in these tests, while in the men’s singles we have chosen to give Kike Peñalver more responsibility”.
To be in the European Mixed Team Championship, which will be held from February 14 to 18, 2023 in Aire-sur-la-Lys (France), Spain must finish first in Group 3. In the draw that took place in the headquarters of Badminton Europe, the National Team, which started as seed, was framed in Subgroup 1 of Group 3, where it will face the host, Switzerland, and Iceland. In case of being first in this subgroup, the pass to the final phase will be played against the first classified of Subgroup 2, made up of Ukraine, Greenland and Hungary.
The Spanish team debuts this Thursday at 3:00 p.m. with the duel that will face Iceland. Friday will be a rest day for the team, which will return to the slopes on Saturday to face Switzerland, also at 3:00 p.m. If Spain finishes first in the subgroup, they will face the winner of the other subgroup on Sunday. This match will be played at 10:00.
all matches can be followed live through the platform Badminton Europe TV.
