Denmark has been on top of the women’s doubles podium for the last four years of the European Championships. Now that Pedersen/Rytter Juhl have withdrawn, Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen is Denmark’s the highest seeded pair in the event.
- If we get as far as the semi-final, we will be up against someone we have beat one time out of ten, so no we don’t feel the pressure, Thygesen underlines to Badminton Europe.
The women’s doubles had just exceeded from the first round when they met Badminton Europe in the mixed zone of Carolina Marin Sports Hall.
- Today was not a walkover for us so we have to play pretty well to win a gold medal. We believe that it is possible but there is still a lot of tough matches ahead.
Felt neutralized by the Estonians
The opponents for the Danish third seeds in Wednesday’s match was Kristin Kuuba and Helina Rüütel from Estonia. In the first part of the match, the Danes had trouble finding their ground, which was at the Estonians merit.
- They succeed in neutralizing us completely and brought a good offer of how to beat us today. We did not have enough motion in our legs, said Fruergaard.
- We knew that this was not going to be the world’s easiest match, but it was nice to be on court to find the lines in the venue, the patience and the different strokes and all these details. We can use this in the next match to come, Thygesen added.
Semi-final has first priority
In the next round, Lea Palermo and Delphine Delrue from France waits, and Fruergaard explained that they need to be prepared for the power of the French.
- The French usually bring a lot of power on court. It is very ‘hard, hard, hard’ with them and we would need to be wise in our defense and just be patient.
- The Europeans have of course opened up with the withdrawal from Chris and Juhl, but I don’t feel the pressure because it has never been on the cards that we were going to take a gold medal before that. But obviously it opens up for some possibilities and we will give our everything. But the first priority is to reach the semis and then we will take it from there, Thygesen added.
Find more results from the 2018 European Championships here.