At the end of the European Mixed Team Qualification in Milton Keynes, it is England who will challenge for the title in February at the finals of the EMTC in Copenhagen.
The hosts have won all three of their ties against Hungary, Italy and Belgium making them top of the group table, behind are Belgium who has finished in second place.
In the morning session, Hungary and Italy fought against each other to conclude the remaining places, Hungary coming third while Italy finished in fourth after not winning any ties.
England into the finals
England is now one of the seven teams joining Denmark in Copenhagen for the finals of the European Mixed Team Championships in February.
The hosts of the Qualification in Milton Keynes won all three ties against their opponents this weekend, finishing with a 4-1 victory against Belgium on Sunday.
Sean Vendy who played in the Men’s Doubles match to qualify England revealed that he loved the feeling.
- It is great to bring it back for the team, and I am glad that we have been able to take the win into the finals because there are so close matchups here, Sean Vendy told Badminton Europe.
- Nothing is better than putting on the shirt for your country, and obviously with the home crowd behind us helps us massively, Ben Lane said.
It has been a learning curve
Hungary has finished third place in Group 1 after getting the better of their opponents, Italy in the final tie of their participation in the EMTC Qualifiers.
Gergely Krausz after winning his Men’s Singles match revealed that the aim for the tournament was to learn and take it forward into the future of Hungarian badminton.
- We were discussing while we have been here that we are taking part to improve, England was always expected to win the group and our aim was to finish second.
- We had chances against Belgium to win and some close matches too and then we wanted to beat Italy. It is a really good improvement for all of us in this tournament.
