Hosts Poland’s strength in doubles helped them overcome a 0-2 deficit and beat Spain on the opening day of the 2017 European Mixed Team Championships in Lubin yesterday.
The Poland-Spain tie was the closest of six on the first day. France, Sweden, Germany, England and
Denmark were the other winners.
Poland fell behind after losing their two singles of the Group 4 tie. Michal Rogalski went down fighting to Pablo Abian in Men’s Singles, 19-21 21-9 21-14; Olympic champion Carolina Marin made it 2-0 beating Wiktoria Dabczynska in 23 minutes (21-9 21-10) of their Women’s Singles encounter.
Poland fought back through Adam Cwalina/Pawel Pietryja (Men’s Doubles) as they shut out Luis Enrique Penalver/Alberto Zapico 21-11 21-13.
Spain’s Clara Azurmendi and Beatriz Corrales had their chances in Women’s Doubles against Agnieszka Wojtkowska/Aneta Wojtkowska (featured image), but the Poles fought off deficits in both games to equal the tie at 2-2.
Veteran pair Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba made no mistake in the final match as they crushed Mixed Doubles opponents Ernesto Velazquez/Haidee Ojeda in 23 minutes, 21-5 21-14, to secure the tie for Poland.
Defending champions Denmark suffered a slight hiccup against Bulgaria in Group 1, with Line Kjaersfeldt losing the Women’s Singles to Mariya Mitsova (13-21 21-16 24-22) after holding two match points, but the other Danes had no problems as they stormed to straight-games wins. Anders Antonsen, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen were too strong for their opponents.
Sweden scored an impressive 4-1 result over Ireland in Group 2. Henri Hurskainen put the Swedes on course with a 15-21 21-15 21-19 upset of Scott Evans in Men’s Singles. Emma Karlsson made it 2-0 winning her Women’s Singles over Chloe Magee.
Joshua Magee/Sam Magee revived Ireland’s hopes with a hard-fought 19-21 21-16 24-22 win over Richard Eidestedt/Nico Ruponen in Men’s Doubles, but Ireland’s hopes were dashed with Clara Nistad/Emma Wengberg securing their Women’s Doubles match over Sara Boyle/Rachael Darragh 21-14 21-17.
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