Events

David Daugaard and Mathias Christiansen hoping their moment is now (Photo: Badminton Europe)
Are you ready?
Date: 4/23/2018 8:46 PM
Published by : Alan Raftery
Tomorrow the European Championships 2018 kick-off in Huelva, Spain. For many players, this is the pinnacle of their season. The long hard road of training and preparation lead to this moment. And in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles, with the champions withdrawing, we will have guaranteed new kings of Europe. Let’s take a look at some of their journeys.

Despite the withdrawal of number 1 seeds Carsten Mogensen and Mathias Boe, Denmark have fantastic strength and depth within Men’s Doubles, and are looking to once again dominate. One such pair are number 6 seeds Mathias Christiansen and David Daugaard. David says

-My form is very good at the moment, I have been training really hard now for a long time, and I can really feel the change, so I am positive for the European championships. My draw is almost the same as last year, so of course we are hoping to go the semi-final again.

All matches will be difficult
Mirroring the men, the Women’s Doubles number 1 seeds and European champions, Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen have withdrawn. One pair benefitting from this development are the French number 6 seeds Emilie Lefel and Anne Tran. But they remain very much grounded when Anne says

-Emilie and I are in good form for the last few months. We are happy to be in Huelva and we will try to play match by match. Even our first seeds are out of our side of the draw, all matches will be difficult. We will give our best in every game and enjoy playing here.

Our target is a medal
Another pair who is optimistic, but well aware of the task ahead is German number 7 seeds Isabel Herttrich and Carla Nelte. Isabel says

-I am looking forward to this tournament. We had 3 good weeks of training and I feel well prepared for it. Our target is a medal, but it is of course tough, however we are ready for the fight. In the Women’s Doubles we play a Dutch pair who showed good results lately.

I look forward to getting started
In addition to the hard training and nerves, it is important to remember that many players are just excited to finally play in the tournament they have been waiting for. As can be seen when Selena Piek, Dutch number 5 seed playing with Cheryl Seinen, states

- We have been very busy playing lately with loads of traveling in between so we didn’t get the perfect preparation with a long training block at home, but I do feel good! I look forward to getting started and as always, I’m aiming for medals. It’s going to be tough, but it would be amazing if we can do well here and reach that goal.

Find the draw for #EC18 here.
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