Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen bowed out of the World Championships in the first round.

In mixed doubles all Danish eyes were on Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen. The European Games champions from Baku 2015 were the only Danish representatives in the mixed doubles category at the World Championships, but in the first round against the opponents from Hong Kong the level was not high enough.

Winning the first game comfortably 21-9 the Danes lost the second and the third game 21-17 21-17.

- We are very disappointed. We played very well in the first game, but we could not keep it up in the second and the third. It is very frustrating that we cannot keep a level that was good enough to beat this pair. That is not good enough, Nohr said.

- They raised their level. In the first game we were in control at the service situation and we had a good tactic. They got the rallies going, and they were good finding our weak spots, Thygesen added.

Need to look into the big goal

Lately the results for the Danes have been up and down, and after a disappointing result at the European Games in June and an early exit at the Worlds, it is time to look into the goal setting.

- We have to find out what the goals are. At this level we need more points to climb the ranking, so we can enter the big tournaments. Half a year ago – if you asked me – we were fighting for Olympics, and we will do that still, but in another way. We have to get some points, and it is going to be some tough months ahead, Niclas Nohr said.

- Tokyo 2020 is still our main goal, and of course we would like to go to the Olympics, Thygesen added.