Events

Seeding announced ahead of today's draw
Date: 3/19/2015 10:15 AM
Published by : Manuel Røsler
Ahead of the draw for the 2015 European Junior Individual event on Thursday the seedings were released earlier this week with the competition itself to take place in Lubin, Poland at the newly opened RCS Arena from 26th March to the 4th of April with the team event preceding the prestigious individual event.

The seeding was made in accordance with the Badminton Europe European Junior rankings as of 16th March. While the seedings offer a clear indication of the potential medallists in Poland don’t be fooled into thinking that the winners will come from the top four in each event. Denmark will be sure to put the cat amongst the pigeons with many of their lower and unseeded athletes fancied to top the podium.

The men’s singles is case in point and while Germany’s Max Weisskirchen will look to repeat the feat of Fabian Roth in 2013 the reality of the situation is the Danish duo Anders Antonsen & Rasmus Gemke will be the players to beat in Lubin.  Like 2011 in Finland and 2013 in Ankara Turkey the women’s singles is awash with talent which will make for an interesting competition. Spain’s Clara Azurmendi as top seed will look to emulate the victory of Carolina Marin in 2011 but will come under intense pressure from second seed and experienced senior player Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. Like in the men’s singles a winner could easily come from outside the top seeds and if there is a player to do just that Denmark’s wonder kid Julie Dawall Jakobsen is the player to do it.

Team England start to come into their own in the doubles events and it is fully expected that the English team will make a mark improvement on their poor showing in the team and individual event two years ago in Turkey.
Vendy & Lane will feel the pressure as top seeds in the men’s doubles and unlike the singles the likely finalists should come from the top four seed pairs which include two outstanding Danish doubles in Bond/Eipe & Bay-Smidt/Mortensen.

The women’s doubles represents a huge opportunity for an English 1 and 2. Hopton & Powell have been very impressive both in junior and senior events this past year and in Jess Pugh England have a real jewel in the crown moving forward. Alongside Banerjee Pugh has an outstanding chance in Poland.

Reigning U17 Euro champs Pavlinic and Galenic bring senior mentality to these junior Championships and with Pavlinic a real medal contender in the women’s singles this could be a bumper year for Croatian badminton. Outside of the top 3 look again down the rankings to find Julie Dawall Jakobsen and partner Ditte Soby Hansen, none of the top pairs will want to see these Danish pair on their side of the draw on Thursday evening.

The Mixed doubles will once again, as it has done so many times in the past be a golden opportunity for England to reassert their dominance. Pugh & Lane are the form pair and justifiably top seeds but the lack of Danish pairs in the seeding list can lead to an air of complacency from the seeded pairs.

The Dutch will hope that Jille and Chen can bring their senior experience to Poland and claim a podium from their 5/8 seeding and Scottish pair Hall & MacPherson also 5/8 seeded will be the pair that any of the top 4 will hope to avoid.

After a great 2013 European Junior Championships campaign it will be a tough ask for the French to repeat their Turkish exploits. The mixed once again will represent one of the best opportunities for France to podium and in Anne Tran and Alexandre Hammer the ‘blues’ certainly have the firepower to do so.

The draw for the individual event of the European Juniors takes place on Thursday 19th March at 14.00 CET and the full draw will be published shortly thereafter.

Click here to view the full seeding for the individual event of the 2015 European Junior Championships.

Article by Mark Phelan for Badminton Europe.
©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

Related news
27/03/2024
EOC Executive Committee awards 2027 European Games to Istanbul
The European Olympic Committee...

27/03/2024
Madrid Spain Masters day 2: Victories, upsets, and excitement on court.
French siblings sweep to victo...

26/03/2024
A first action-packed day unfolds at the Spain Masters
The Madrid Spain Masters 2024 ...

26/03/2024
Spain Masters begins today with an unexpected withdrawal!
Madrid is buzzing with excitem...

25/03/2024
Lane/ Vendy and Marin, victorious at Swiss Open
The Swiss Open concluded this ...

24/03/2024
Marin and Lane/Vendy secure finalist spots at the Swiss Open
The semifinals have concluded ...

More news