Events

A day for the Underdog
Date: 4/24/2014 6:51 PM
Published by : Manuel Røsler

Day 2 of the INTERSPORT European Championships was drama ridden from the outset. The tone for the entire days play was set with the dramatic defeat of number two mixed doubles seeds from England Gabby & Chris Adcock. The English world number 5 pairing lost out in three games to Danish veterans Julie Houmann and Anders Kristiansen, both former medallists from past European Championships.

The curse of the TV court was to rear its head once again as another three seeds fell in quick succession in a day that turned out to be the day of the underdog in Kazan.

Click here for all #EC2014 mixed doubles results.

Next to suffer at the hand of lower ranked opposition was number 8 seed Ville Lång from Finland. The Finn had prepared well for these Europeans but didn’t account for the form of opponent Vladimir Malkov the Russian playing on home soil.

The Russian had never beaten Lång but Malkov had shown good form in his earlier round and was understandably ecstatic with his win in two games against the Finn.

“My record against Ville (Lång) has not been good. I expected a very long match against him today as Ville is known for his long rallies. To win in two games has taken me by surprise as I really did not expect it”

Malkov went on to win his third round match later in the day to put himself just one game away from an unlikely men’s singles medal for hosts Russia.

Marc Zwiebler suffers shock defeat

Reigning European champion Marc Zwiebler was next to fall as the German number one failed to show much of the form that saw him lift the title two years ago in Sweden. It was yet another Russian that upset the seeding as Vladimir Ivanov controlled the match against the number two seeds and like Malkov, the 2.2 metre tall Ivanov came home in two games against the German.


Click here for all #EC2014 men's singles results

As if fate was on the side of the home nation the third big upset followed hot on the heels of the Malkov and Ivanov victories. The seed to fall in this instance was third seeded Beatriz Corrales, the Spaniards conqueror the unlikely figure of Ksenia Polikarpova.

Corrales looked completely off colour going down in two games 21-17 21-14 as the Russian could hardly believe her luck as she looked total in shock after her achievement as she walked off court.

Danish youngster Anna Thea Madsen continued the day of giant killing taking down 8th seed Petya Nedelcheva and Turkeys Özge Bayrak opened up the women’s singles draw beating second seed Kirsty Gilmour from Scotland.

Click here for all #EC2014 women's singles results

Jørgensen back from the brink

Denmark’s top seed Jan Ø. Jørgensen (pictured) saved three match points against German giant Dieter Domke to stop the rot for the seeded players as the world number three got the fright of his life as he bids to lift the title he so dearly wants on in resume.

Both men traded easy wins in the opening sets before the Danish multiple Super Series winner was forced to draw on all his experience to defeat the German who fell to his knees as Jørgensen took six of the last seven points to claim the victory.

“WOW that was close, really too close for comfort” said a relieved Dane after coming back from the death.

“I really had to call on all my experience and belief in myself to come through today. I think Dieter got a little nervous in the end and I just looked inside myself and found the desire to keep fighting which brought me through”

To re visit all the on demand action from day 2 on Badminton Europe’s YouTube streaming channel click HERE. Tune in tomorrow from 5pm to catch all the live action free and uninterrupted from Kazan.

For a full Facebook photo gallery from the championships follow Badminton Europe by clicking HERE

For all tweets from Kazan click follow Badminton Europe on Twitter HERE and search hashtag #EC2014

Article and photo by Mark Phelan (Live in Kazan)

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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