French pair crush Danish mixed doubles in EC final
Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Bøje lost the mixed doubles final at the European Badminton Championships in Saarbrücken, Germany, on Saturday evening.
21-16, 21-15, the French pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue won after a match that the Danes never really got hold of.
The French pair, who have Danish coaches, moved especially Christiansen around the field a lot, and it was undoubtedly a deliberate and very useful tactic, for which the Danes had no answer.
Although the Danes were first seeded, the French had a mental advantage in having won the three matches so far.
After a promising Danish start, the French pair took over about midway through the first set, and virtually every point was celebrated with loud screams.
The gold medal is France’s first ever at the European Badminton Championships.
Denmark has plenty of them, but it is actually the first time since Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen in 2018 that Denmark gets better than a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the European Championships. The latest gold medal was picked up in 2016.
Denmark is assured of at least one gold medal at this EC. On Sunday, Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup compete with compatriots Andreas Søndergaard and Jesper Toft in the men’s doubles final.
In addition, Anders Antonsen is in action in the men’s singles final when he meets Viktor Axelsen’s boss, Frenchman Toma Junior Popov.
In both women’s doubles and women’s singles, the finals are without Danish participation.
2024-04-14 02:24:06
#French #pair #crush #Danish #mixed #doubles #final
