France saw double in Saarbrücken, Germany. After the mixed doubles victory of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue the day before, the duo Margot Lambert – Anne Tran hovered over the women’s doubles competition, leaving only one set on the way, the first of the final, Sunday, against the triple Bulgarian European champions, Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva (16-21, 21-17, 21-11). And it was (almost) wanted. “We knew it would be a long match against them,” explained Lambert. We made them move well. We lost the first set, but it was a bit of an investment, it tired them. They gave us lots of free points and we were able to stay strong despite the fatigue. »
Dreams of medals at the Games
Enough to offer blue badminton the first gold medal in its history in the category. “It’s incredible, I don’t really realize,” Tran savored. We announced before the competition that we wanted to end the Olympic qualifier with a title. We knew we had the level to do it. We worked like crazy, we invested in this qualification, we came out victorious and it’s great. »
French badminton was even able to dream of a golden treble in Saarbrücken. Except that the day after his exploit against world number 1, Viktor Axelsen, who opened the door to the Games (at the expense of his brother Christo), Toma Junior Popov (25 years old) was too lacking in fuel. Opposite, Anders Antonsen, another Dane, had the trappings of a wall, the tireless leg, the arm always long enough, the hand always too much. The Frenchman, almost always in the hunt, therefore logically lost (21-18, 21-13). “The freshness made a difference,” he noted. And then at certain times I made mistakes that gave him confidence as I was coming back up. Perhaps a lack of lucidity. I gave everything yesterday (Saturday), it was my 7th week of competition in a row. I did very well, without injury, and we continue to build on this foundation. I didn’t think the match against Axelsen would leave so many marks, I saw it on the supports. It didn’t pay off today (Sunday), even though I was rather close in the game. He was fairer and more incisive than me on important exchanges. I only remember the positive from this tournament, I deserved my little rest. »
Now, it is time to turn towards the Porte de la Chapelle and its new-look Arena which will host the Olympic badminton competition in Paris. The world, largely Asian, is not waiting for the Blues. Popov (25th in the world on the eve of the Euro), Lambert-Tran (19th) and Gicquel-Delrue (13th) will indeed not approach the Games with a medal slung over their shoulders but their German week can give depth to their metallic dreams. “We couldn’t have dreamed of a better finish to qualifying like that,” says Lambert. We know that we have two good months to prepare and give everything to the Olympics. »
2024-04-14 18:53:47
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