This week the European Team Championship is taking place in Estonia (European Women’s) and Ireland (European Men’s) where we find Andalusian representation in both the Women’s Team (Cristina Teruel) and the Men’s Team (Pablo Abián, Daniel Franco and Rubén García).
Estonia
The Women’s National Team was close to qualifying in Tallinn after achieving two victories out of three possible in the group stage.
Spain began its journey in this European Women’s Team Championship by losing by the minimum (3-2) against the locals in a match where the CETD player from Andalusia Cristina Teruel (Huelva) participated, losing against Helis P Adjust (11-21/21-11).
In the duel against Italy, the Spanish achieved their first victory by 3-2 and Teruel was close to achieving victory against Gianna Stiglich (21-16/21-19).
And in the last match of the group stage, Spain closed its participation with a resounding victory against the Netherlands 5-0, where Cristina Teruel beat Inger Pothuizen in two sets in the second IF.
Ireland
The Men’s National Team completed its participation in this preliminary phase of the European Team Championship with full victories, qualifying for the final phase that will take place in the month of February 2026.
Spain began by forcefully defeating Slovakia 4-1 in a match with Andalusian prominence where Pablo Abián (IES La Orden) lost in the IM against Milan Dratva in three even sets (21-14/19-21/21-16) and in which Daniel Franco (Granada) along with Rodrigo Sanjurjo were lined up in the DM clash against Andrej Suchy and Simeon Suchy.
In the second match of the group, where Spain was trying to advance from the groups to play the match that would give them a ticket to the final phase, the national team managed to beat Italy by a tight 3-2. In the IM Pablo Abián had to retire due to injury in his duel against Fabio Caponio (16-21/21-12/15-9) and after the victory of Alvaro Leal and the defeat of Miguel Esteve everything was in the hands of the two remaining doubles. In the first DM Daniel Franco and Rodrigo Sanjurjo beat Fabio Caponio and Giovanni Toti in three tight sets (21-15/22-24/21-15) and in the last match of the match Rubén García (Granada) and Carlos Piris defeated Matteo Massetti and Luca Zhou (21-14/21-13), Spain passing with full victories to the last match in Dublin.
And in the final clash, Spain certified its classification to the final phase of the men’s European Team Championship after beating Ireland 3-1 in another match with Andalusian prominence when Rubén García from Granada defeated Joshua Magee in three games (21-9/9-21/21-18) and Daniel Franco from Granada, along with Rodrigo Sanjurjo, won against Guildea and Reynolds (21-17/21-12) in two sets.
Photography: Spanish Badminton Federation
