May 28th will not go down as the greatest day in the history of BC Amersfoort after losing their opening group match to Hungarian outfit Multi Alarm SE. However a day is a long time in sport and today the 29th of May The Dutch champions showed grit, determination and their ‘bouncebackability’ to reassert their presence in group 4 with a 6-1 win over group favourites Strasbourg before destroying Ukrainian outfit SHVMS-Telesens 7-0 in the final session of the days play.

In truth it was a poor display from the Dutch singles players that had them on the back foot after the first round but a good night’s sleep saw the Dutch singles players come out and win 6 of their 8 singles matches on day 2 to take Amersfoort back to the top of group 4.

Nick Fransman led the charge for the Dutch and the tall singles player was overjoyed after his singles performance on day 2 in Beauvais. “Yesterday was a real disappointment for all our singles players. I felt very slow on court and in some ways we let the team down.”

Speaking about their performance on day 2, Fransman was upbeat about his team’s chances and their performance. “Today we knew we had to perform better and do the club proud and we proved that we were much better than our performance yesterday. Today was a good day and now we are in good shape to qualify for the quarter finals.”

Jelle Maas and Efje Muskens (pictured) continued their good form in Beauvais with yet another pair of victories helping Amersfoort to the top of the table.
 
Chambly shaping up for a medal

After Strasbourg’s defeat to Amersfoort in the morning session the focus of French attention landed on the shoulders of local club Chambly as their powered their way to the top of group 3 with a mid-session win over Portuguese side CHE Lagoense.

It’s is somewhat of a luxury having both Kirsty Gilmour and Beatriz Corrales in your team as between them they have won 7 tournaments on the Badminton Europe circuit this season. The duo delivered again for their French team mates and both seemed to have settled in very well in the family that is BC Chambly Oise.

“There is a great family atmosphere in the club and the players we have all pull together as a team which is important. It is our goal to medal here in front of our home fans which would be great for the team and the area” said Corrales after her victory at second ladies singles.

No Problems for big two

Both TSS (Denmark) and Primorye (Russia) were in and out of the hall in double quick time and look to be heading to a final face off just as they did last year. The reigning champions from Russia cruised to a 7-0 win over Irish outfit Alpha BC and TSS, with Hans-Kristian Vittinghus trying his hand at men’s doubles, won equally easy over Polish champions Bialystok by the same 7-0 score line.

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For all results from the 2013 European Club Championships click HERE

Article and Image by Mark Phelan (Live in Beauvais)